


Nos Sumus Dracones

by BlackBirdAolen



Category: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Genre: Alchemy, Broken Bones, Brutal Fight, Calming Presence, Construct, Darkness, Divination, Establishing Power, F/M, Fallen Angels, Fallen Brethren, Family, Fireflies, Flashbacks, Foundations, Gen, Hell Gate, M/M, Motes, Multi, New Ruler, Pain, Pandora's Box, Power Struggle, Rebuilding, Reconsidering, The Fall - Freeform, Theories, White Feather, artifact, bloodlines, challenge, dangerous game, duel, fight, hideout, siege, speculations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:16:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After seven relatively uneventful years, someone seems to rise to the challenge to defeat the Prince of Darkness himself. Gabriel, having grown slightly wary of the near stagnant life he had lead up to this point, is more than pleased to find someone willing to step up to the challenge. But he might be trying to bite off more than he can chew when going toe to toe with this new enemy.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://ask.fm/BlackBirdAolen">Got a fanfic idea for me?</a><br/><a href="http://cheroshseiphar.deviantart.com/">My deviantART - full of original fiction.</a><br/><a href="http://blackbirdaolen.tumblr.com/">Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Uneasy Night

The night was cold, almost frosty on Gabriel's skin. He crouched on the roof of the cathedral he had made his new home, gazing into the distance. Since some time, the air in the city had been different. It remembered of the time shortly before his second fight with Satan, yet it had something distinctively different about it.

Seven years had passed since this fight. Seven years since he had been reunited with his son Trevor, who now served him most faithfully. They were the unchallenged top of the food chain, the highest acolytes of darkness. No challenger had stepped up since that time, and the nights would have started to become meaningless and dull, had they not been working on restoring small bits of the former glory and splendor of Dracul's castle.

Of course, it was no easy task, but they could at least let their servants work in the underground. The catacombs and forgotten ruins beneath the city slowly were turning into buildings which once more could be inhabited. Slow and steady was the only way Gabriel could see his castle rising again. Rushing everything would have ruined his plans. Yet, something wasn't quite right.

From the corner of his eyes, Gabriel saw how Trevor returned. His son was wearing the Lieutenant’s armor, and just then slowly pulled off the helmet. Why Trevor insisted on keeping it was a mystery to Gabriel. He could imagine there was some reason for it. It was just inexplicable.

"There's something going on in the city." Trevor sounded worried, if only a little. "I found signs of a powerful being wandering the streets. I pursued a couple of leads, but not one of them turned up anything."

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows a little. "How can you be sure, then, that someone is in the city who doesn't belong here?"

"It's my instinct telling me so. And this here." Trevor pulled something from between two plates of the armor. It looked like a plain white feather to Gabriel, if a little ruffled. But when he took a closer look...

"What is this?" He lifted his gaze to meet Trevor's eyes, but received no answer. "It's not from a dove, I suppose?"

"I wouldn't be so worried if it was just a dove," Trevor dryly remarked. "It seems to me like a winged being is scouting the city. Maybe a messenger from the Lord?"

Gabriel snorted, and snatched the feather from Trevor's grasp. He froze when he felt a strange, tingling sensation coming from it. "Do we really want to know what this is?"

"I think it would be beneficial to know what we are dealing with here." Trevor shrugged lightly. "But it's hard to tell if we can't find the source of the feather."

Following intuition, Gabriel bit on his index finger, creating a small puncture mark. He allowed his cursed blood to drip onto the feather. It erupted into a small flame, before the ashes slowly transformed into a pitch black feather. Trevor watched the transformation with wide eyes, stunned by the rather intense reaction.

"It seems like we are dealing with a hallowed enemy indeed." Gabriel crushed the feather in his palm, a sneer spreading on his face. "This might just prove to be interesting."

"It indeed will." Trevor shook his head with an amused sneer. "Do you think it will be prey worth the hunt?"

"It better be, or I'll pluck it until it screams and curses to the heavens."

Gabriel slipped from the roof and back into the cathedral, smiling and enjoying the light of countless candles illuminating the room, and spreading their warmth. Not as good as body warmth, but it was much better than the natural cold of the stone building surrounding them. That had been the reason why Gabriel already had employed thousands of candles all over his castle, when it still had existed in all of its glory. It had lifted the darkness from his heart a little, though it never had been enough to remove it.

Trevor entered the cathedral shortly after him, looking somewhat distracted and unhappy about something. "Is everything alright, Son?" It had become so easy to call Trevor his son by now, but Gabriel still felt a strange sting every time he did it. Somewhere in his heart, he still felt guilty for what he had done to his own flesh and blood. But Alucard was his most valuable asset, and without transforming Trevor into this beast of a vampire, he would have been in quite some trouble already.

"I just was under the impression that I saw something like this before. But I could be wrong, Father." Trevor shook his head, looking slightly helpless. "It's a rather nagging feeling, and it's annoying. But I still can't get it to fade away. It's sticking in the back of my mind, no matter what I do."

"You should give it some rest. It won't help if you keep thinking and thinking, without ever coming to a conclusion." Gabriel reached out to pat Trevor's cheek. "You have done well tracking down this unusual feather, but you really should stop worrying for the moment. Nothing, and no one, has attacked us in a fairly long time. We are the undisputed rulers of this city. If this challenger wants to attack us, he better do so openly, and directly. Any other kind of confrontation is tiring and a waste of our time."

Gabriel watched how Trevor retreated, before he went to the more secluded part of the cathedral. There, less candles were illuminated, and the area seemed to be draped in shadows. It had a quiet aura about it, a calming feeling which seeped into the mind and heart. It even caused Gabriel to smile quietly, as he strode through the room, heading straight for his throne, which was erected before the renewed rosette window of the cathedral. It now depicted a dragon and a vicious wolf, the latter having been his son's wish.

Life always threatened to become stagnant for the truly immortal, Gabriel knew that all too well. He grabbed his favorite goblet, swirling the blood around in it gently. An unknown challenger in the city, and the prospect of having an interesting fight after seven years of a relatively uneventful life? That promised to be fun, very much so indeed. He heard how Trevor headed down to the ground floor of the cathedral, probably to go down into the underground. There, the castle had taken on shape again, and a few rooms already were occupied by loyal servants. It was astonishing how fast they had been able to gather followers. But it just served their cause.

Gabriel leaned back into his throne, taking a sip of blood and smirking to himself. He wondered what supernatural being was seeking to defeat him this time? He had no idea what the feather could mean. He wondered if it could be one of those beings said to be the messengers of God. Gabriel had never believed in angels—at least not in the pure ones, seeing Satan was the first one he encountered—but that didn't have to mean that it was so impossible. A white feather, turning black when being touched by something corrupted... That was pretty strong evidence, in his opinion.

Something caught his eye, and he suddenly grew a little tense. There it was again. A shimmer at the horizon. He wanted to go up to the roof again, but then hesitated, and slowly sat back again. No, he wouldn't allow himself to be lured into a trap now. He would wait for the challenger to openly call out to him, and that was it.

 

***  
  
"Ah, Master Alucard, how delightful to see you." Alucard looked down when he saw a gnome, grinning widely and bowing to him. "What are you looking into tonight? Do you want to know about the latest progress on our building? Or do you wish to speak with another of your servants?"

Alucard sighed lightly. "No, Merchant. Please, leave me for now. I need to talk with a special someone. The demon we captured shortly after Satan's second defeat. My Father never was to keen on keeping him alive. I trust you saw to keeping him somewhat nourished?"

The merchant nodded hastily. "Of course, of course, young Master, me and my kin took good care of him. And we tormented him, as you wished us to."

Alucard grinned, nodding slowly. "Very well, Merchant. You can tend to your own business now."

It had been a long time since he had been down here, and specifically went to see the demon they had captured and locked up in a special cell. It had been about five years, if he wasn't mistaken, and in that time, the demon should have had a rather hard time. He wasn't looking to break the demon, but keep him as entertainment, to keep his darker side entertained. It had started to come forward more and more definitely, and there was no way to keep it under seal and lock indefinitely. His personality seemed to be ever shifting, becoming more violent and corrupted as the years passed. But in his father's presence, he couldn't unleash it. It was as though the elder vampire's aura was simply shoving his darker side back and kept it under control with an iron grip.

The slightly rusty iron door was covered in several runes, and Alucard shuddered lightly when he touched the metal. It would always be unnaturally warm, as though as it was living. He had asked his servants if they were under the same impression, and had received only confirmation. The door was pushed open, and revealed the sight of a rather torn-up, weak demon, chained to the wall and kneeling in an intricate, elaborate pentagram etched into the otherwise perfectly smooth stone floor. A rather luxurious prison for this foul creature, as Alucard thought to himself with a huff.

"Ah, the great heir of the Prince himself is finally coming to visit me again..." The demon sneered, though he looked beaten and broken in his pride. "What do you want to do to me, hm? Fancy tearing my head off next?"

Instead of answering, Alucard closed the door behind him, looking the demon over. How must it feel for the demon to be caught by his enemies, without a chance to escape the pain and torment he was going through each and every day? He was sure that he wouldn't want to switch places with the demon, but there was also no way that he would release the pitiful creature any time soon. He slowly came closer, crouching just outside the pentagram, and then grabbed the demon by the chin.

"Samael..." he growled out, as though it was something despicable to spit out. "Have you felt anything unusual as of late?"

The demon narrowed his eyes briefly, but that was enough of an indication that Samael indeed had sensed something different. He tightened his grip lightly, his claws digging into the demon's skin. He looked surprisingly human, except for the long black horns sprouting from above his forehead, and the strange feet tipped with long talons. An eerie similarity to Lucifer, but it was just a sign that Samael was one of the higher demons. Well, by now, he highly likely had tumbled down in the hierarchy of the fallen angels.

"Fine, there is something in the city." Samael grunted, attempting to squirm out of Alucard's iron grip. "And it is out to challenge his great majesty, the Prince of Darkness."

Alucard allowed his claws to cut into Samael's chin, until the demon gave a soft whine. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you." He sneered, bowing closer, until their faces were just inches apart. He could sense fear stirring in Samael's heart, which his dark desire took in with glee. Alucard wanted the demon to fear him, as it would nourish his needs. Just perfect.

"You don't look half bad when you're quivering in fear." Alucard growled under his breath, his gaze fixing on Samael's neck. "You almost make it tempting for me to bite you."

"You wouldn't dare to." Samael sounded fearful and was starting to quiver. The demon was not as hardened as he liked to pretend he was, it seemed.

Alucard laughed, then suddenly rose and slapped his captive across the face. "Quit the whining. And I would never bite a filthy demon..."

 


	2. Featherfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The challenger finally reveals himself. But his nature is what is the most worrying...

Samael's sneer when he had talked about the unknown challenger in the city still lingered on Alucard's mind when he returned to the sleeping quarters. For the day, the two vampires always would retreat to the world beneath the city, the sprawling catacombs and endless tunnels and ruins left behind. It cost them great effort and careful planning to rebuild everything, as some parts of the catacombs had been carrying the weight of the foundations of the buildings of the city for such a long time. They couldn't simply be broken down and replaced with more durable materials, as it would have been a risk. Work progressed at a snail's pace here, but it was well worth it.

Beneath the soil of the city, far away from the sun, they could dwell during daytime, without having to worry about someone coming down here. None of the people in the city above would have dared to come down here, too frightened by the knowledge that the monsters from the cathedral could be close by. Besides, they had destroyed every other access point than the cathedral above one of the most prominent shafts leading down into the catacombs. If anyone had wanted to enter, it would have to be done by magic.

His room wasn't as spartan as in the beginning. Alucard slowly took off the Lieutenant’s armor, placing it on a wooden dummy. He gazed at the armor thoughtfully, stroking along the dark metal. The victory over the Lieutenant seemed like a distant past already. The weapon, Masamune, had turned out to be a simple blade in his hands, but it still was a pleasure to wield it. Like with Crissaegrim, Alucard was able to channel his magic into the blade, by now allowing for devastating attacks when he employed both fire and ice in battle.

He sighed to himself, closing his eyes briefly. Now and then, it seemed as though two sides of himself were in a conflict impossible to resolve. There still was a faint trace of the man he once had been, of that Alucard was sure. But the beast he had become was growing ever stronger. It didn't mean he was entirely unable to think in an organized manner, it just grew increasingly more difficult with every day passing. Every time he drained a mortal on his hunt, he knew that he was feeding the beast, the dark powers inside of him. His father had gone the same path, and he simply had caught up with him. His father and creator, the purpose in his life, the one dark star in the blazing sky. He couldn't be without his guiding darkness any longer.

And yet, he had a bad feeling concerning the mysterious power lurking in the city. It was true that a little feather said nothing about the nature of the challenger, but it still was enough to stir a horrible suspicion inside of Alucard. His father and him, they were representing the dark side of power, while this feather seemed to come from a disciple of light. And not just from any being, but from one they only knew in its fallen form. Was it really an angel having sought to come down here and challenge the Prince of Darkness? It was hard to imagine, but there was nothing opposing this assumption. Something was boiling beneath the surface of the city, and it was only a question of time until the conflict would break loose.

He stepped on the balcony of his room, overlooking the deep crevasses beneath him. Somewhere in the darkness, there were the remains of the castle, of the many destroyed statues and walls which had fallen when Dracula's castle had been stormed. They were slowly coaxing the castle out of its torpor. With every step towards the restoration of even just one part, Alucard could feel a strange power pulsing throughout the stone. Something was whispering to them, of that he was sure. The castle was as much a symbol of Dracula's power as it was a living being on its own. It would become the center of dark forces once more, the fortress the night itself could retreat to.

Alucard looked up, noticing his father climbing around on some of the more fragile-looking constructions. A smirk ghosted across his face for a moment, his dark lips curling. It seemed so strange to see Dracula behaving a little like a boy, with how ecstatic he seemed to be about the prospects of having a rival arriving on his territory, trying to assert his dominance over the Prince of Darkness himself. Despite the seemingly carefree behavior, Alucard knew well that his father was simply pondering what techniques to use to utterly humiliate his foe. The cat-like climbing and reflexes were second nature for Dracula by now. They simply served to occupy his body with something, so that his mind was able to freely stray about.

Alucard pondered on what he could do in the meantime, other than slashing through some demons still lurking somewhere in the castle. It was unavoidable—the castle, after all, was a center point of demonic energy, and thus sometimes allowed them to slip through the cracked veil—and it was a rather relaxing exercise, in his opinion. But it wasn't offering much of a challenge, as the ones slipping through were rather weak ones. The more powerful entities needed a weaker veil to push through, and he had the sneaking suspicion that it might grow fragile enough in the near future.

Something white and shimmering made him look up, and Alucard was stunned as he saw white feathers slowly coming down, as though snow was falling. The workers had stopped and were chattering excitedly amongst themselves, though quickly returned to their tasks when Alucard angrily gazed into their direction. Again, his eyes focused on the feathers, which looked the same brilliant white as the one he had taken with him to show his father. Were those from the same being? What in the world was scattering them?

Dracula leaped over to the banister of the balcony, gazing upwards and narrowing his eyes. Alucard followed the direction of his gaze, and there, indeed, was something bright and shimmering, of approximately human appearance. He had to avert his gaze after a while, though, as the brightness of the stranger made his eyes burn. Alucard gave a small, frustrated growl under his breath, and suddenly, the cavern was filled with laughter.

"So you are the great threats everyone has been cowering before? How very disappointing." Alucard blinked, staring up at the now revealed stranger. He didn't believe his eyes as he spotted the large, pure white wings protruding from the stranger's back. Was he really just seeing an angel? "And I thought that I would face a greater monster than two lowly maggots."

"A cocky one like you might just lose his wings," Dracula replied with a small sneer. "So it was you who scattered his little dunes all over my city. Why, I should pluck your wings straight from your back, so that you don't go through mold any longer."

Alucard saw how the haughty sneer turned into a rather unpleasant scowl. If this being truly was an angel, he could understand why a mortal would fear them. As long as they were smiling, they were somewhat pleasant to look at. The moment they would show fury or scorn like that, it seemed like their entire aura and glamor flipped straight into the opposite. The line between angel and demon seemed even finer than he initially had imagined it to be.

"You will not talk to me in such a manner," the angel declared. He floated in mid-air, his wings not moving at all. They seemed to be more of an illusion at that point, to mask some other power keeping him afloat between the wooden framework supporting some of the more fragile pillars. "You shall bow to me, for I am one of the Lord's messengers. I have come to eliminate the likes of you, and I won't stop until this nest of evil will be cleansed from your vile presence!"

Alucard observed his father's reaction, and he wasn't surprised to hear Dracula chuckling with a broad sneer. Why should they have bowed to this haughty creature anyway? The angel was obnoxious at best, and surely didn't intimidate them. He hadn't shown any power up to this point, just had gloated about how he was one of God's messengers and supposedly better than them. Alucard's fingers twitched towards Crissaegrim, but he stilled his hand when he noticed his father signing him to stop.

"I don't see why I should bow to you. If anything, you should bend your knee to me." Dracula chuckled again, seeming to be more and more gleeful about the development of this situation. "I, after all, am His chosen one. I went all this way, to the bitter end I will go, and nothing will make me bend my knee but the Lord himself. Not even the mightiest warrior could make me give in, no matter how high of an angel he is."

"Imbecile!"

The angel's voice thundered throughout the catacombs. Alucard shook his head, growing less and less convinced that this, in fact, was a warrior of God. He was behaving like any other haughty man who had dared to challenge his father, only to fall short of his boast. The still inhuman-looking figure slowly descended, but still remained a fair distance away from them. Alucard supposed that it was due to the angel not being as self-secure as he tried to sound. Strange how just a few words could throw the angel off. He guessed that the angel wasn't used to being talked back to.

"Oh, please, do taunt me further. It amuses me so much." Dracula was laughing now, barely able to hide the fact that the angel was not intimidating him in the slightest. "You sound more and more like a child. Did someone take away your toy?"

The angel wanted to retaliate, but Dracula already lashed out. The long tainted whip born from his cursed blood cut through the damp air, and neatly sliced off one of the long pinions. The angel struggled to remain balanced, and looked more infuriated than before. Dracula chuckled, and then leaped into the air. Alucard was about to follow him, but decided to hold of for the moment. The air was filled with a strange sensation, and he wanted to stay put if there would be any more strange beings to break through into the catacombs.

True enough to his suspicion, a few smaller of the radiant beings appeared above them, charging towards Dracula and him. Alucard quickly drew his own combat cross, Dark Pain, and lashed out against the glowing shapes. If those were angels, they weren't as tough as demons, though. One hit was enough to rip one of them apart, and the shriek it gave off was most satisfying. It wasn't enough to scare the other angels away, though. On the contrary, they kept coming in increasing numbers, which gave Alucard ample opportunity to slash and whip through the masses attacking him. It was as though another siege was laid upon the castle of Dracul, and he was feeling that he had returned to that time when the castle had been laid to waste in the first place.

He couldn't see the large angel or his father anywhere in the chaos around him. Alucard growled, trying to not get distracted too much. It was dangerous to lose sight of the battle, he knew that. If his father was nowhere in sight, that probably meant that he had lead this haughty creature right into the bowels of the castle. There, between crumbling pillars and in the middle of decay, it would come to a heated fight, doubtlessly.

"Master Alucard!" Alucard pushed back the angels around him with an ice spell, and then quickly glanced down. There, the Toy Maker grinned and waved up at him. Accompanying him was a monstrosity of a puppet, which made the angels shriek and fall back quickly. Alucard leaped down towards the Toy Maker and his latest creation, keeping an eye on the angels, who all seemed to be quite disturbed by the mere sight of the mechanical monster. "I thought you might want to use this here in your battle..."

"What is this?" Alucard was intrigued by the massive dark power it radiated. It didn't match his father, but it still was menacing enough to instill fear in the angels. "Having been inspired lately, Toy Maker?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact..." The Toy Maker laughed lightly. "I took something from Samael, which I'm pretty sure is quite acceptable from your part?"

Alucard nodded quietly, touching the cold metal of the mechanical construction. It looked a little like a broken, and very disturbing marionette, which had been put back together the wrong way. The limbs bent outwards awkwardly, and there were signs of demonic runes all over the blackened metal. Alucard was quite sure that it hadn't been smoke smudging the once silver material, but he really didn't want to know what the Toy Maker had done to make the metal gleam with such dark powers.

"You should head further into the castle..." The Toy Maker patted the monstrosity next to him like a little puppy. "I believe your father could use more assistance. Don't worry about me and my little creation... we will keep this little doves out of the castle. Your worry should be their leader."

"Thank you... and take good care of yourself."

Deeper inside the castle, it was? Alucard could only guess what would await him...

 


	3. God's Chosen Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A battle ensues between Gabriel and the archangel of the same name. But amidst the fight, Gabriel starts to realize that there is more to this than just a simple conflict. Still, he hopes that there is a challenge for him in store once more...

"Isn't it most peculiar, Gabriel?" The archangel laughed, sounding strained and somewhat angered. Gabriel slowly paced closer to the archangel, never taking his eyes off the strange creature. He still was struggling to comprehend what exactly he was facing there, even though he knew that it, in fact, was one of those creatures revered and feared as the messengers of God. "It seems that we two were fated to meet one another on the battlefield. Why, I think God has made his own plans for us... And we still can't even begin to comprehend them."

"I don't know what you are talking about, and I frankly don't care. You are just a blabbering madman to me, without proving that you have more than just brawn to offer." Gabriel snickered as he saw pure fury starting to boil beneath the haughty mask the angel had put on. If it would be that easy to agitate his foe, he would still have a lot of fun with him.

The archangel again dashed forward, trying to hit him with a powerful blow. Gabriel could narrowly avoid getting hit, feeling the searing heat of the holy powers pulsing just a hair's breadth away from his skin. He lashed out, but couldn't even scratch the archangel, who all of a sudden seemed to move much faster than before. Apparently, the archangel had understood that he was going toe to toe with a formidable foe, and had to whip out more strength if he wished to even scratch Gabriel. The Prince of Darkness was having fun, and that was what annoyed the angel beyond words.

They paced in circles, taxing one another, trying to find a new strategy to attack. The archangel appeared to have thought it less complicated once he would have cornered Gabriel. However, the opposite had turned out to be fact. When cornered, Gabriel tended to become much more vicious than his opponents anticipated, and that was what threw all of them off. They could plot, plan, carefully lay out all of their desires and expectations, but it would only result in underestimating him in the end.

Rays of pure light cut through the darkness of the castle, one of them narrowly avoided by Gabriel. He again could feel the searing close to his skin, could feel how his body, his blood was repulsed by the concentrated energy. This indeed was a being of light, though one filled with immeasurable hatred towards him. He didn't know why, and didn't care much for the reason. With how boisterous the angel had been in the beginning, and with how short he had fallen of his threats, there was little hope for him to actually live up to the challenge he had claimed to be.

"Hold still already!" The archangel was almost visibly fuming by now, his attacks becoming much harder to dodge as the fight continued. Gabriel barely managed to scratch his opponent's skin here and there, but yet was unable to wipe the huge sneer off his face. This fight, while a bit disappointing, was at least entertaining. The archangel's face was a mask of pure hatred, and it was just so delightful to see him making mistake after critical mistake.

Done playing around, Gabriel unleashed the power of the Void, throwing the archangel off. He heard the shocked cry, just before a massive blow impacted on one of the angel's wings. It left an ugly gash, and ripped a loud wail of pain from his enemy's throat. The sound alone was satisfying enough to send jolts of sadistic pleasure down Gabriel's spine. This angel was such an arrogant bastard. This plucked joke of a dove didn't deserve to bear the same name as him, the dragon, the one and only prince of darkness.

"You claim to be such a high servant of the Lord, yet you fail to entertain me, chicken." Gabriel snatched the archangel by his throat and smashed him into the ground effortlessly. In the course, one of the wing joints was crushed, giving off a very satisfying noise. Breaking bone gave off such a lovely melody, and the pained scream accompanying it was like that little, taunting motif following a grand, pompous solo.

"Don't you dare mocking me..." The angel whimpered now, didn't sound as self-confident and haughty any longer as just a few moments ago. "Let go of me right this instant, I demand it!"

"Oh, quit your whining, you're unbearable." Gabriel tightened his grip, his long claws digging into the angel's skin easily enough. "You claim so much and can prove so little. Have you really been granted the strength to take me down? I doubt it, I sincerely doubt it. You rather look like you would make a nice little plaything now. But the wings are in the way..."

The archangel's eyes widened as he realized what Gabriel's cruel intentions were. But instead of voicing his plead, he was squirming like a little worm. Gabriel smirked, leering at the angel and drinking in the pain coming off in waves from the supposedly holy creature. He could feel that, deep down, the angel already had begun falling from grace. There was no way that such a hateful creature would be allowed by God's side for such a long time. At least, that was Gabriel's belief. This archangel, this creature looked more and more like a fallen being. Reminding him of Satan, of this snake having brought about so much misery. And he felt his anger flaring again.

"I think you would make a nice addition to the ranks of the hellish creatures I have fought time and again." Gabriel dragged the angel to his feet and held him up by his throat, choking the archangel. Now, he felt the kicking and squirming, the true despair of a creature caught in the grasp of something much more powerful than itself. It was addictive, this feeling of absolute control over the demise or fate of a human-like being. Gabriel licked his lips, his eyes glowing a deep, bloody red. "You won't need those wings of yours every again, will you? I don't think that you would be welcomed back into the ranks of your likes."

"Y-You can't..." The angel's voice was a begging, pitiful whimper by now. He was so desperately afraid, he couldn't even form proper sentences, it appeared. Gabriel sneered, shaking his head slowly. "Please, you can't do this to me!"

"Oh, I can. You are nothing but a sniveling, pathetic bastard, who thought he could waltz in here and just best me in combat. My son took on your minions with ease, and you are not any better. I would have hoped you would put up some amount of challenge, but it seems that I was mistaken. Maybe, when you return as a fallen angel, as one of those ugly demons, then you would be something more of a trial for me. But until then, you are nothing but a little boy having woken up in a nightmare. I could pluck out every single feather, one by one, and I would enjoy it undoubtedly."

Gabriel caught sight of Trevor, and he smirked to himself. He had known it – his son had finished off those angel grunts without any further problems. He could see the blood glistening on Trevor's claws, that animalistic leer in his son's eyes. Everything about the younger vampire was speaking, no, screaming of the carnage he had committed amidst the ecstasy of battle. They were both so very much alike. Beasts living for the battle, for the confrontation with an enemy of equal or more power, to be bathed in blood and to revel in the night forever and ever.

"Father, what will you do with this rat?" Trevor chuckled, licking his fingers clean of blood. His glowing yellow eyes never left the whimpering angel in Gabriel's grasp. "This angel claims to be of the same name as you. But he performs poorly. He is a shame for the name Gabriel. If that is supposed to be one of the strongest messengers of God, then I wonder why we haven't made Heaven fall long ago."

"That is something I have no interest in doing, my dear son." Gabriel sighed quietly, smirking at the angel still squirming in his grasp. Did it really take so little to break the archangel's spirit? That was really disappointing. He almost regretted even having considered fighting the archangel. "And what do you have to say, you little worm? Still whimpering over a slightly hurt wing? A broken wing won't keep you from fighting."

Gabriel threw the angel across half of the battleground, and slowly, the creature came back to his feet. He couldn't regard the angel even as some sort of human being. No, this messenger from Heaven was not human at all. He was showing something like emotions, but Gabriel had the feeling that he didn't quite understand what they truly meant. He still knew, remembered faintly from his human life, how true emotions felt when they were surging through the body untamed. This pathetic creature had no idea what it was to be truly alive, and now he dared judging the prince of darkness himself?

Their clash grew more intense after that. Gabriel had to dodge and slash with renewed vigor, and he truly began to bask in the fight now. He had taunted and ridiculed the angel long enough for him to lose his cool, and that was the result of it. A furious flurry of white feathers and searing light, some of it hitting Gabriel, but most of the times missing him completely. Trevor watched from a safe distance, hissing and growling now and then when he commented on the fight. He was too far gone into his beast self to really care about remotely human behavior any longer. An at times unsettling sight, but there was nothing Gabriel could do about this at that moment.

The angel lashed out, crying inhumanly in fury. The shrieking was something strange, something in between the high-pitched screech of a bird of prey, and something which Gabriel would have associated with the deepest pits of Hell. Something was happening to the angel, he was sure of that. But he had no desire of helping this creature. Gabriel still felt as though he had been ridiculed, and he would not let this slide. He would punish this pitiful little worm, and cast him away like trash right after that.

"Enough playing around." Gabriel firmly clutched the angel, ripping a huge chunk of feathers and skin from the angel's wing, tearing another of those delicious, delightful screams from the angel's throat. "You had your time to shine, but I'm sorry to say that you are just not cut to even get close to any form of success."

With two quick movements, and another couple of gargling screams, Gabriel had ripped off those obnoxious, white-feathered limbs from the angel's body. The bleeding from the angel's back was heavy, and the blood was staining the ground. If it hadn't smelled and felt so repulsive to him, Gabriel would have scooped up a little and drunk it. But in this case, he had no use for this stuff.

With a huff, he let the angel drop to the ground. He watched how the creature cowered by his feet, tears streaming down that fake human face. This angel was not human. He just had assumed a human form, and that was all there was to it. Now, he would cast this pitiful creature where it would rightfully belong from now on.

Once more, Gabriel grabbed the angel by the throat. "Listen well, little worm daring to call himself 'Gabriel' so cheekily... I will cast you down into Hell, into one of the deepest pits. I think you will serve well under the cloven feet of Lucifer."

He didn't watch when the darkness below opened up to greet the angel hurled towards it, swallowing the creature before the last, desperate wail could leave the tormented shell. Gabriel sighed, wiping his hands off as though he just had squashed a bug.

"I do hope that you will not disappoint again, oh great chosen one..."

 


	4. Looming Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The archangel Gabriel awakens to find himself in Hell... and his brother Lucifer already is suspicious of his true motives. He will have to tread carefully, for the ruler of Hell never should be underestimated.

Gabriel woke to a world of pain which previously had been completely unknown to him. The archangel groaned, collapsing onto the ground again. It was hot and cold around him all at the same time, creating a very unpleasant tension on his skin. He didn't feel his back any longer, and he still was in a daze. He wasn't sure if it really had happened, if his wings truly had been torn out. But it was the necessary evil, if he wanted to succeed in his plan.

The former archangel slowly got to his knees, patting around on his chest. It took him a while to realize that the artifact had fallen on the ground a bit away from him. Gabriel scooted over to it, picking the innocuous object up. It looked a little like a dream catcher, but the purpose of it was much more sinister. Besides, it hadn't revealed its true form yet. Gabriel hat caught a mere glance at it. But with the artifact completely unfolded, it would be a breeze to subdue this obnoxious vampire.

Before that would be the case, he would have to go through a long ordeal. But it would be worth it. Gabriel sneered, stroking along the dark pearls of the artifact. If he would collect just enough power to go through the last few stages of this drawn out transformation, then it would be well worth all those risky moves of the past years, all those exploits and the backstabbing. He needed this to work out. He didn't want to find out that his struggles had been for naught. It would have smashed every last bit of sanity remaining in his body.

The low sound of claws made him look up, and Gabriel sneered with disgust. Of course, his fallen brother would seize the moment to laugh at him. But if he just was a little patient, and seized the chance to claim this power for himself...

"Gabriel, what a surprise." Lucifer set his clawed foot onto Gabriel's chest and pushed him onto his back, the talons digging into the skin. "I didn't think I'd ever see you down here, in my realm. Was our great Lord unforgiving yet again?"

"I chose this path on my own." Gabriel returned Lucifer's gaze with disgust. He couldn't believe how ugly the once so revered Morningstar had become. But he guessed that this was the price to pay for the change into the fallen being. He wondered if it would become any worse over the course of time. Or if he maybe... "Isn't that what you did, too?"

For just a moment, Lucifer's eyes shimmered dangerously, but he didn't reply right away. They locked gazes, glaring at one another, at the same time trying to assess where they were standing at this very moment. They always had enjoyed a rather questionable relationship, and by now, everything was so convoluted that it was hard to tell whether there was a chance or not that they could possibly end up as allies. Gabriel didn't quite believe it, though. Lucifer was a too prideful creature to allow him to simply get away with anything really.

Lucifer slowly removed his talons from Gabriel, but it was quite obvious that he was already thinking about a suitable punishment. Gabriel swallowed lightly, but he gazed back at his brother nonetheless. After he had left Heaven, Gabriel had realized that he was more of a brother to Lucifer now than to his others. It was a somewhat unsettling and even angering thought, but at the same time, it gave him some semblance of peace. It was something he could come back to. He would be able to gain Lucifer's sympathy with the correct steps, and if he could come close enough...

"You are plotting something." Lucifer looked rather annoyed now. "You never came down here just for the fun of it. So tell me. What is it that you have planned this time?"

"I have planned barely anything." Gabriel gave a terse smile. I have fled Heaven in such a rush that I had no time for any plans of any sort. It's a bit of an unfortunate circumstance, but it is the only way I could have come here without risking to fall beneath Michael's blade. You know how our brother can be. He is very temperamental towards us."

"He is a dimwitted, blabbering baboon," Lucifer snapped. "Blindly following every order our Father gave us, that is not a way to go through life. I still can't believe that he never thought twice about what he was about to do when he beat me down."

Gabriel slowly came to his feet, ignoring the pain he was in. It had mostly dulled down to a rather unnerving throbbing, but the worst pain was already gone. "I left quietly and without a fight, though I suspect Heaven's eyes are on me now. And they will be for a time longer, until I might just become something similar to you, brother."

Lucifer huffed again, but it was visible that he was slightly rattled. Maybe, it was the still lingering taste of defeat. They both had suffered it by the hands of this blasted former human, who had become something so twisted that Gabriel doubted he would ever be able to view Dracula as remotely human again. He still wore the appearance of a human being, but it wasn't the right way to refer to this beast.

"We can't go against Heaven like this, that much is for sure." Lucifer patted Gabriel's shoulder with a rather absent expression. Gabriel grimace from the pain radiating into his body from his shoulder. His back still was a source of pure agony, but he had to bite back the urge to scream for the moment. It would have been too much as of the moment. He didn't want to admit that he was weak at the moment, not in front of his brother, and possible tool for the future.

"And we haven't got a chance against that creature on Father's leash," Gabriel added as an afterthought, laughing bitterly. "Isn't it ironic, my dear brother? We are afraid of a human being. A former human actually, but he still is a human being in essence. And we are afraid of what he has become. He should be afraid of us, not the other way around." He gritted his teeth in pain, but Lucifer seemed to interpret it as pure, unadulterated anger. "We should squish this worm beneath our feet..."

"Brother, we will have the means if we carefully prepare for it." Suddenly, Lucifer sounded rather gleeful. Gabriel bit back a comment on that. He didn't want to lose his brother's trust already. As much as he despised Lucifer for the pride and the haughty air he carried about him, the Morningstar still would be useful for him. To lose him as an ally, and here of all places, would have been a death sentence for Gabriel. As much as he hated to admit it before himself, he was dependent on his fallen brethren right now.

It was strange that Lucifer insisted on helping him at that moment, but Gabriel supposed that his brother merely wanted to see every slightest bit of pain he was going through. That would have matched the mindset Lucifer had taken on during his time of carefully building his realm. Hell was not as uncomfortable as Gabriel had imagined it to be. The envisioned pits of fire were there, but it didn't seem to be so bad.

Maybe, it was corruption already flowing through him that he found this realm so appealing. Gabriel felt that his wounds slowly were closing (which was nothing compared to being able to heal in a flash in the heavenly realms), his composure becoming more firm again, and the strain on his body steadily decreasing. Lucifer seemed almost a bit disappointed that he wasn't in so much pain any longer, but if he was, he didn't let it show through completely. They both were silent for a long time, then Lucifer pulled Gabriel close.

"If we should hope to defeat the dragon, then we should very carefully prepare. We can't rely on allies from the surface, I fear. The last attempt at that went horribly wrong."

"The last two attempts, you were meaning to say." Gabriel had delivered it completely without emotion, to take out some of the sting. If he had shown any sign of glee, Lucifer wouldn't have taken to it kindly. "An unfortunate circumstance, but it seems that we can't ignore the fact that they are ever vigilant. Quite annoying, those two rats. They hide in the dark to not get caught up in an unpleasant mess, yet they are not weak. They are skilled in combat and magic, and their force is to be reckoned with."

"All in all very unpleasant factors." Lucifer's mouth twitched, and he gazed up at the fiery skies of the realm. Fire as the most destructive, yet also as a creative element. Gabriel began to realize that it wasn't all about torment here. It was a statement of Lucifer's considerable power. If he could just employ that for himself fully, it would already have been perfect...

"I believe I will have to think this through for a while longer, dearest brother." Gabriel didn't do much to hide all the sarcasm in his voice, but Lucifer seemed much too caught up in his own thoughts to properly notice. Still, he was slightly worried. Lucifer could act all harmless, before he would strike as swiftly and mercilessly as a poisonous snake. Lucifer could hold a grudge for indefinite times, and that was a problem which would always come back to haunt him, of that Gabriel was sure. "You know my little... obsession with a perfect tactic."

"I do remember it well." Lucifer chuckled briefly, but the rather hateful glare never fully vanished from his face. Gabriel inwardly prayed that there was no immediate repercussion coming his way. "It was an annoying little habit... But in this case, it seems only sensible that you would take care of proper tactics. We can't have that again... I wouldn't want us to lose against this damnable maggot. It would be a terrible waste of our time."

"Quite so." Gabriel was relieved that it wouldn't be a problem to get close to Lucifer at that very moment. It would have complicated too much in a too short period of time. "Before we can get everything into motion, I think I need some rest. I feel oddly tired."

"That is corruption flowing freely in your body." Lucifer chuckled, and shook his head with a slightly curious glint in his eyes. That curiosity was almost worse than the obvious hatred towards his former brethren. "I do wonder how it became so much in such a short time. Or did it take hold even before you came here? That is just utterly delicious."

"I don't think I would have come here without some amount of corruption already in my body." Gabriel wiggled out of Lucifer's grip, feeling oddly uncomfortable and misplaced all of a sudden. Maybe, it would become a more difficult task to realize his plans than he originally would have thought. "Corruption is the first step towards the Fall, not the other way round."

Lucifer's eyes darkened again, and his whole aura became more intimidating. Gabriel cursed himself inwardly. He had known that he shouldn't rely on fooling his brother with a few words. Lucifer was a master manipulator, and Gabriel had to realize that he had underestimated his brother once again. This was bad, very bad indeed. If Lucifer would lose his patience with him right away, then it would become a very, very difficult, if not outright impossible attempt at grabbing power and leading the armies of Hell by himself.

"You can't fool me completely, Gabriel." Lucifer's prideful purr was back, and it made Gabriel shudder in disgust. He was physically repulsed by that tone of voice, which Lucifer employed to gain the upper hand right now. "Corruption has a certain way, you see. You have much more contained within you than you should have. Why you haven't fallen earlier is a mystery to me, and I'm intending to find out what in the world you did to hide that kind of thick, black madness from the gaze of your fellow brothers for such a long time. It is outright impossible to remain in Heaven with such heavy corruption going unchecked." He paused briefly, his wings slowly opening, to add to his menacing aura. "You are holding on to something which veils the true extent of your corruption, even before the powerful minds of our brothers. I doubt that Father didn't notice it. He might just have been too saddened to do anything." Lucifer huffed, laughing bitterly. "He always had been a sentimental fool ever after he calmed down after the first centuries of jealousy."

Gabriel couldn't help laughing. "Just listen to yourself, Lucifer. You sound like a little child all over again. You are still hurt that he could have new favorites. That he could have someone beside you he adored. We always were beneath you, Lucifer. You were a green-eyes monster long before Father ever showed any signs of jealousy. You started this whole descent of humanity into despair and darkness. And that just because you couldn't tell anyone about your true feelings."

"What do you know." Lucifer sounded bitter now. "It's a thing of the past. Nothing can erase the chasm having opened between me and the rest. You just happened to find a way across it. Now you're stuck with me, Gabriel." Lucifer's clawed hand left scratch marks on Gabriel's skin when he patted his cheek. "You will curse the day you decided to abandon Heaven. And you will curse the day you picked up the fight against Dracula, the dragon at the leash of Father. I didn't make this choice because it was the easiest way. Atoning myself for what I did, that would have been an easy way. That would have been something I could have done still. But I chose to go down the dark, difficult road. I was alone in this decision, but many followed me because they thought that they had no choice. Now let that sink in for a moment."

Gabriel was utterly speechless about this revelation. Lucifer always had struck him as selfish and prideful. He still was that, in his eyes. But Gabriel could also see that Lucifer still was genuinely bitter about the breakup between himself and the rest of his brethren, and especially his Father. Though, as a warning voice whispered at the back of his mind, this could all be a setup. Lucifer was cunning. Prideful, yes, and sometimes very haughty, but he was also a very sharp mind, and a being not to be underestimated. Lucifer was still the ruler of Hell. And Gabriel would have to watch out with every step he took. Otherwise, he would end up as little more than an ugly smear in some pit of Hell...


	5. Watching From The Dark

Alucard crouched on one of the highest roofs of the city, his yellow eyes narrowed and watching the shadows of the city. There always was some amount of activity. The presence of his father alone was enough to cause disruptions in the order of the city, and that was something that couldn't have been avoided by any means. Not that they would have wanted to completely suppress it, but it still was quite the piece of work to keep it within acceptable boundaries. The city was theirs, and they didn't like seeing some low life creatures harming their subjects. Granted, the subjects were clueless for the most part, but they still didn't want to see harm coming to them.

The vampire shuddered lightly and narrowed his eyes. For the briefest of moments, he had thought that there was something pulsing in the dark. Alucard straightened up, sniffing into the night. His sense of smell was even superior to that of his father, which had to be partly blamed on his ability to transform into a wolf. Being a vampire alone didn't explain it all that well. And since there were abilities either he or his father possessed, he supposed that it was the accumulation of those exact skills which granted him this heightened sense of smell.

There it was again. The fragrance was subtle, but there was no doubt in his mind as to whether or not it was connected to the thing moving through the shadows, evading even his eyes. He hated the thought that there were beings which were able to sneak past him and his father, but it was a simple truth he couldn't ignore. But that didn't deter him from going down into the streets and pursuing whatever had tried to slip past him entirely unnoticed.

Alucard had to be patient in his hunt. Whatever this being was, it was clever. Again and again, it slipped from shadow to shadow, masked its smell almost completely, and made it quite hard for him to follow the movements of his target. This thing was accustomed to sneaking, and it was probably a hunter like himself. A hunter trying to hunt another hunter would always find himself at a constant test of his skills. If he was the inferior of them, he sooner or later would end up being the prey. But Alucard would not let that happen.

He had promised his father to become his worthy right hand, and that included not being played for a fool by whatever might sneak around in the shadows. It was hard to not let his ego get ahead of him. He wanted to catch this being immediately, and not have to go through a lengthy chase all around the city to catch up to whatever was trying to play him for a fool this time.

Several times, Alucard felt that he nearly lost the being in the shadows. It was an interesting challenge, but one that grated at his nerves. As soon as he got his hands on this bastard, he would teach this thing a lesson, right before draining it of every last drop of blood. Maybe, it would serve to satisfy his thirst for a couple of hours, but that was already a rather generous estimate. To truly satisfy him, much more than a single humanoid being was required. He found that demons and angel-like creatures (he was quite sure that those were not, in fact, true angels) satisfied him for a slightly longer time than mere humans, but it could have side effects. Sometimes, his already animal aggression reached new levels, and that was a most risky gamble, considering that he could, if he really wanted to, compete with his father's power.

The chase ended in an abandoned park. The trees were charred and looked like sickly thin hands reaching into the night sky. There was a soft, strange glow about everything in the park, but it wasn't because of a spell invoking it, or because of anything hinting at a dangerous situation. It just was there, a soft echo of something in the past, as Alucard thought. It was sometimes a bit hard to tell where such a glow came from, and not always, the answer was all that fascinatingly fancy. But it was all good in this case.

"You are quite persistent." The voice was a bit softer than Alucard would have expected, but with the curious tone he somewhat loved. He took particular pleasure from confusing others and making them see something they never would have fathomed possible to begin with. In this case, it might just be that there was some kind of supernatural being that still had no clue about him. Or, on the other hand, it could be that it was someone aware of his power, but someone who never had actually witnessed this power in action. That he or she would come here to see for themselves, however, was just plain stupid.

"It's a bad idea to play hide and seek with one of the greatest hunters of the city." Alucard slowly gazed around into the shadows, if he could see whomever had drawn him out to this rather remote part of the city. "You shouldn't do that with someone who just needs the slightest bit of suspicious movement to get into the right mood for a bloody violent hunt. Should you, however, have a death wish, then I might just be able to understand you. That doesn't mean, however, that I really approve of your method of drawing your preferable way of dying out into the open."

The voice laughed gently, and Alucard could swear that he could hear a somewhat chiming sound in the voice. At the same time, it had a rather strange vibe about it. Something angelic and something demonic, in the same voice? That was a new one. Alucard grew increasingly curious about it, and he relaxed his posture just the slightest bit.

"I don't want to die quite yet, thank you very much. I am aware, however, that I chose a rather stupid method of catching your attention. I do apologize for that, but not for my decision to seek you out in the first place."

"That's another decision you should have reconsidered long before you actually did it." Alucard shook his head. "Come out now, I want to see you. I might not attack you right now, but if you show any more suspicious signs, you might just end up missing your head."

The being emerging from the shadows at that moment was something Alucard wouldn't have expected. He had thought it would be human, or at least human-like, but not entirely mechanical. Everything about the strange creature was either made from metal or something that resembled the carapace of a turtle. There were black bead shimmering all around the being, most of them seeming to serve no particular function other than some kind of jewelry, if a rather bizarre one.

"You didn't expect me to look like this at all, did you." The voice sounded much too smooth for a being made entirely out of metal. However, the movements of this mechanical construction were fluent enough to allow it to pass for somewhat human. "It's strange to see such a construct as I am one, isn't it?"

Alucard half shrugged. "I think I saw more bizarre creatures than you already. To be fairly honest, you look like something the Toymaker would create. Do I happen to be right in that respect?"

The construct nodded. "Yes, I am a yet nameless creation of the Toymaker. Why I am here now, however, I do not know. It appears that a vital part of my memory has gone missing, and that is not particularly encouraging to me. I could have done anything in the frame of time missing from my memory, and that is, given the circumstances of the recent attack, particularly unsettling."

The nameless construct was rather charming, in a way. The bronze color of the metal used to build it gave it a soft color, and all in all, it looked pleasant to the eye. Most parts of its mechanical structure hadn't been disguised yet, though. It did have a face, which was capable of moving quite some, despite its metal appearance. Some parts of the body had been modeled after a humanoid insect, but the face was so eerily human, it was almost irritating to look at it. Alucard believed to see a semblance to someone he knew, someone he might have met before.

"What are you doing here, away from your master and creator?" Alucard supposed that, if the construct was self aware to this level, he couldn't just destroy it. It still could be useful in the future conflict with the angels, which Alucard regarded to be inevitable after the actions of his father. They were preparing for a fight, which was one of the most enjoyable activities of the past years. The knowledge that, after a relatively short-lived peace, a possible war was about to happen, made his body shudder in anticipation.

"I am not entirely sure." The construct turned around in place, looking at its surroundings. Alucard wasn't sure how this construct could act like a human with how it had been constructed, but he had never quite understood the trade of the Toymaker. It was a mystery how the old man got everything to work so smoothly. The level of alchemy required to create something so intricate was beyond what him and his father could do, and they did possess at least some amount of knowledge. "But I suppose it was to bring something of this."

The construct carefully scraped some glowing moss from one of the dead trees in the middle of the clearing in the dried out woods. "This will do." It smiled in a peculiar manner, then bowed to Alucard. "My apologies that I caused such trouble for you. I will be on my way then. One must never keep his master waiting..."

 


	6. Clicking Into Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Holy smokes, has it really been 2.5 years since the last update?! I really slacked off here...)
> 
> The Toy Maker offers a theory as to what is transpiring. And worryingly, it doesn't sound far-fetched at all in Gabriel's ears.

“I demand an explanation.” Gabriel had learned upon Alucard’s return that there had been something odd around in the woods. He was not happy that the Toy Maker still was constructing beings, without even bothering to ask him about it. “What is this construct you sent out into the woods? Just to gather moss, this seems a little excessive even from your side.”

The Toy Maker was just working on something, and he carefully set down an Erlenmeyer flask, which contained a sluggishly moving green liquid. And it was moving on its own accord even after the Toy Maker set it down. He turned around, with a grave expression on his face. The construct shortly appeared around a corner, then bowed out of sight again. That certainly didn’t help calming Gabriel down. This was definitely feeling a lot like insubordination.

“I sent out this particular construct, because it can’t be detected by demons. My other constructs all have the flaw that their soul vessel, the alchemical piece that makes them tick, is making demons go berserk around them, and will cause them to search out the construct and destroy it. But since I really needed a sample, without putting anyone into danger, I sent out my newest creation. It proved to be working.”

“Why did you need that sample?” Gabriel crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I could have collected it just as well.”

“That might be, but I needed it without the taint of the lord of shadow himself clinging to it. That is the important part here. That is, again, the reason why I sent out the construct.”

Gabriel still was unconvinced, and he wanted to finally know what was going on. Before he could ask, however, the Toy Maker beckoned him closer, and pointed at the Erlenmeyer flask. The liquid was behaving in increasingly strange ways, first bubbling up towards the rim, then suddenly collapsing back and turning from green to a solid black. Then it changed its color again, this time to an almost blindingly brilliant white.

“I needed this to confirm what I think is going on with the Hell gate, and why we haven’t been able to find where it is yet. It seems that the angel you cast down into Hell only a few nights ago has ripped it into the fabric of reality deliberately. If he planned on going there in the first place, or simply wanted to go there after he defeated you, to eliminate Lucifer, is beyond my knowledge. I just can say that it definitely is a most unusual gate, and it probably won’t close until we have eliminated the archangel Gabriel himself.”

Gabriel was left in a stunned silence. The Toy Maker was knowledgeable, that was true, but he never would have assumed that the old man could make such an assumption. He gathered his wits and asked him with a firm voice if he was serious about this. The Toy Maker nodded slowly, then returned to tinkering with the Erlenmeyer flask for a while, until the liquid became flat again, and returned to the original green color. It was disconcerting to see this green color, as it was vibrant and reminded Gabriel of a forest in Summer. It looked alive.

“I do not want to give any commands here, but, my lord, unless we are able to get the archangel back and make him reverse the rip, or if he is killed, there is no way of saying how long it will take for us to close the gate, or if we ever could find it. There will be a way to patch it, but I am not sure how to go about it. There are at least a dozen ways to open a gate, and if we choose the incorrect procedure to close it, then it might just become much worse.”

Gabriel remained silent, wondering how the Toy Maker even had gotten his hands on this kind of knowledge. But it remained that this knowledge was valuable. Alucard had set out repeatedly to find the gate, but never had been able to even glimpse where it was. And as long as it was open, the demons posed a threat, even if it was manageable. What would not be manageable over a longer time was the fact that humans could come into contact with the demons. That put them under a bit of time pressure. Gabriel didn’t care for the humans as individuals, but he did care that they better not be subjected to the taint of demons.

“I know that I can’t simply waltz down to Hell. It would mean intruding upon the domain of Lucifer, and that is not what I intend to do. The archangel will be back, of that I’m sure. He was here to challenge me, and I doubt that he learned from a single encounter. But what bothers me about all this is that he even tried it.”

The Toy Maker gave a grave nod, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought it over. “It is indeed a very strange occurrence. I thought that I knew that the powers above usually kept out of this for a good reason, but it seems to me now that they are not as placid as I was led to believe. That is, unless…” He shook his head. “It sounds insane in my own ears, but I had the troubling thought that this archangel is acting out of some misguided feeling of justice. And I am pretty sure that in the short time he was here, one of my constructs was close by and spotted something. But they never got a good enough look at what it was. Gabriel hid it the moment he noticed the construct, and he has very keen senses.”

Gabriel huffed and shook his head. He didn’t like that, and he never had seen anything unusual about the archangel when he had fought him. He had taken in his opponent’s every move, and nothing would have suggested that the archangel had hidden away anything from him. But he did trust the Toy Maker’s assessment in this. The worried expression and genuine fear about what might happen in the future was plain on the old face. He then glanced sideways at the liquid, which now looked like pond water full of algae. The strange, luminous quality had vanished, which was probably another sign. Not that he would have known how to interpret it exactly.

“I might have underestimated my opponent.” Gabriel was not entirely pissed about it. He was curious, though, how much further this would take him. He already was outside of what he knew, but that in and of itself was nothing new. In the past years, he had repeatedly dealt with things that were outside of what he could have explained. At the moment, he simply went with what was said, and tried to just think ahead and plan on his next move.

“That is indeed possible, my lord. But this opponent might underestimate our capabilities as well. Nevertheless, we must be cautious in the future. Maybe not the very near future, but to me, it is not a question of whether or not the archangel will return. It is one of when he will be ready to make his next move.”


	7. Prying Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something lingers in Hell, something that knows what Gabriel wants to achieve. And it is eager to help.

Away from his fallen brother, Gabriel slowly paced along the winding paths of dark rock and shadows. Hell was much less a physical place than he would have expected it to be. The realm was suffused with powers beyond his wildest imagination, but they were nothing compared to the Heavenly Forces. Still, they were plentiful enough to lead a focused strike, if utilized properly. The artifact pulsed against his skin, but he clutched it and made it lose its focus again. There was nothing he could do at the moment without rousing the anger of his brother. So he better lay low for a while, and instead find out what the demons of Hell were whispering. They surely would not all be happy with what was happening, or rather not happening, towards their end goal.

And just as Gabriel had expected it to be, the residents of Hell were rather disgruntled. He had veiled his appearance a little further, as a fallen angel was met with respect and mistrust at the same time. They, after all, were directly below Lucifer, and they often were the first to tell him what demons were acting up. It was safe to say that angels had not grown in the demons’ favors, not even their fallen brethren. Or, well, his fallen brethren, as Gabriel corrected himself mentally. He was now amongst them, and the only way to make something of it was to go along with it.

Lucifer’s words had struck him at the moment the first of the fallen had uttered them, but by now, he just thought of Lucifer as a weak joke. There was nothing to not like about being fallen, at least as far as Gabriel was concerned. He resented the fact that his wings had been ripped from him by this ugly brute daring to use the same name as him, but it had taught him another valuable lesson. He could not count on acting like the messenger and vengeful servant from above any longer. Instead, he would make do with what he had been given, and with what had been ripped from him, and thus form a new life and a new identity as the future master of this realm.

His senses picked up waves of resentment, and Gabriel quietly snuck further, until he came to what seemed to be a small pool filled with thick, tar-like liquid. In it, a couple of lamias lounged, looking unhappy indeed. It was hard to determine from their faces, as the features were stuck between human and serpentine, but there was little doubt that they were speaking with ill-concealed anger. Every five minutes, one of them had to be calmed down again, under the hissed warnings that she would attract too much attention of she kept at it.

Gabriel lingered for a while, in that time learning that the lamias were debating if they should just go through the hell gate and try their luck without their master. Thanks to the near permanent rip in the fabric of reality, they could easily do so, but that would have meant sneaking by the guards, who were making sure that only demons Lucifer had approved to go were leaving this realm. Gabriel shook his head in disbelief over so much carelessness. If Lucifer would have utilized his resources properly, then he would have easily taken over the city by now, and thus trapped the two powerful vampires either in torpor, or enslaved them. And if neither of those two cases would have been achieved, he still could have killed them for good.

It was about high time that he would take over command of the legions of Hell. Gabriel snuck on, along the winding paths, keeping to the shadows and never letting on what he was up to. The demons ignored him for the most part. They rarely were interested in new ones down here. It often just meant a hassle to get involved, and that was playing to Gabriel’s advantage right now. He also heard a lot of more complaints. Lucifer had promised them paradise in the form of Earth, free for them to torment, before they would conquer the Heavens. After his humiliating defeat at the hands of the Belmont vampires, it hadn’t looked like he would make good on that promise anytime soon. On the contrary, many joked that he was too busy sulking to even care about anything any longer.

It was bold to joke about the ruler of Hell in such a manner, but Gabriel couldn’t ponder this for too long. He had to go on, since the artifact beneath his glamor and his remaining clothes would send out small impulses now and then, reacting to the powers of the demons around him. While it had seemed like a good idea to take it with him, Gabriel was not so sure any longer. There was a distinct danger that he would be found out very soon, especially if he kept on snooping around like that. And if he kept on listening to the demons, he still would find more to use against his dear brother. But he had to act at some point. There was no way that Lucifer would remain oblivious to what he had brought here forever.

In a quiet corner, and veiled in deep dark shadows, Gabriel pulled forth the small artefact. It looked like a puzzle box, with many parts of it moving almost imperceptibly. There were bright golden lines pulsing between the dark metal parts moving, which was a good sign that it was already feeding on the corruption around it. Gabriel had often wondered why such a powerful artifact was not used properly against the forces of Hell, until he had found out that it came at a terrible price. It hadn’t been a Heavenly concoction, but one from an unknown source. Wherever it had come from, it had wrought havoc already several times. The Greek hadn’t only invented the box that had been carried to Earth to bring the plagues.

He pressed the artifact against his skin, feeling the merciless cold radiating from it. Even if it was supposedly used to purify vile powers at some point, the box showed no such signs any longer. When he still hadn’t been a fallen angel per se, it had reacted differently to him, but now, it just showed its true nature. That was quite fortunate, but it also meant that from now on, he would be in a constant battle with other powers over this small little box. It would be well worth it, since there was a good chance that he could absorb vast powers like this. And those very powers could help him bring the Belmont vampires down.

“Well look at you. Another fallen angel? And one with ambition, too.”

Gabriel flinched and glared at an ethereal creature having peeled itself out of the shadows. It took on the vague form of a naked human female, but remained wispy enough that it could just have been an illusion. He clutched the box firmly to his body, but the wisp made no attempt to take it from him. Instead, it moved around Gabriel, giving small, approving sounds as it did so.

“What do you want from me? Are you going to run to your lord’s side as soon as I say something wrong?”

“No, I have no interest in a weak leader.” The wisp said it quite matter-of-factly, which made Gabriel wonder just how much Lucifer’s control had slipped. This was unusual to say the very least. He always had thought that the Morningstar would at least have the power to keep Hell in order, but it seemed that he had severely misjudged God’s favorite. “But you, you are ambitious, and come equipped with the necessary force and willpower to see it through. I can feel that much. You even brought back that accursed little thing that everyone thought had become a mere myth. After so many years, I get to see it again.”

Gabriel stopped himself from snapping back at the wisp. It had displayed barely any emotion while it had spoken, which made him assume that it was either non-human, or a soul which had been lingering here for much too long to care about anything any longer. Either way, it didn’t seem like it would go running off to Lucifer’s side any time soon. So, he veiled the wisp in the same guising darkness, while knowing fully well that another wisp of the same kind could probably gaze past the darkness and still see them. But he had means to take care of such unwanted intruders.

“You are the being they used to form the artifact? It is hard to imagine that you would still linger. I thought that beings used up in such rituals would vanish without a trace.”

“That appears to happen, yes. After you use the artifact as intended, which hasn’t happened yet.” The wisp shrugged lightly. Even though the words would have suggested annoyance, the tone had remained the same neutral one it had used up to now. “And you are intending to use it as it was originally designed. To concentrate powers and unleash them upon the ones you loathe.”

“It thought it had been designed to do something else, but I suppose not even my scribe of a brother could ever decipher what it takes to wield it.”

The wisp snickered, but it was a hollow sound, that made Gabriel’s skin crawl. “Be careful just how confident you are with your assessment of your own skills. If you want to take Lucifer’s place, it is misplaced. You will have to deliver on your promises, and not just brag about how you deciphered the true purpose of Pandora’s Box. If you can deliver, the demons of Hell will follow you on your heels, and do everything to make sure that your goal will become reality. It will also become their goal. Don’t muck it up like your good-for-nothing brother.”

Gabriel winced slightly. Even with the neutral tone, the words were harsh. Lucifer had been deemed the radiant example to follow, and even after he had fallen, many angels had talked about him in hushed tones, as if they were afraid to make the Creator go mad with grief. He would of course make good on his promise, he had nothing else in mind. But if he was being treated like that already, then it would be difficult to have the demons follow him just on words. He had originally planned to just sweet-talk the demons into overturning Lucifer, but it seemed like he had to overthrow Lucifer with his own hands. And that meant getting close enough to Lucifer to activate the box and draw his powers from him.

“Any ideas how I should go about it, then?” If the wisp already was talking about it in such a condescending manner, then it could just go ahead and give him its mind about the matter. “I can’t simply hope that establishing myself as the new lead of Hell by subduing a leader that is deemed incompetent at best. This would put me just slightly higher in the regard of the demons than my brother.”

The wisp gave a crooked smirk, and for the first time, Gabriel had the feeling that a flash of emotion was showing through. “Then go ahead and just give them the big show they are waiting for. The big flashing sign that they are finally getting what they have been waiting for. Do it, and you’ll have a howling, mad flood following you, to make sure that you will take Earth by storm.”


	8. Two Snakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two brothers, and both with the same ambition. To rule and be feared. But only one shall have the chance to fulfill the dream of the demons of Hell.

Soon after the encounter with the wisp, Gabriel began to carefully observe his brother during his daily business. Lucifer acted like nothing was amiss, but he could see that something was not quite right about the first fallen. There was something about the way that Lucifer carried himself that spoke of a wound that still hadn’t healed properly. Gabriel wasn’t surprised about that. Vampire Killer had left quite the mark, and beneath the glamor, he could see it. But it still was no guarantee that he could overthrow Lucifer with just a simple act of rebellion. It would need more to secure his place as the new leader.

It was also clear that the demons didn’t trust Lucifer completely any longer. Any time their leader was around, they of course would behave, and not show any signs that they were disgruntled. Despite his shortcomings and failings to deliver on his promises so far, Lucifer still was a powerful being, which would be more than able to eradicate just about any demon in Hell. The only thing keeping him from doing so was the fact that he needed the hordes of demons for his own plans. If he hadn’t needed them any longer, it would have been highly questionable if he still would have tolerated them.

But as soon as he was gone, Gabriel saw the true face behind the loyal bootlickers. They were angry, hissing to each other in their unholy language the moment Lucifer was out of earshot. They were annoyed with their supposed leader, and not only one of them was quite aware of the wound that still wasn’t healing properly. There were discussions (as far as Gabriel could discern) if they should just get a hold of Vampire Killer and end the job. How they would have done so, since Vampire Killer was closely guarded by Dracula and his despicable little offspring, was an entirely different question.

Gabriel sighed inwardly, and retreated to his hiding place after a long period of observation. There was more than enough to be learned from what was going on between the ruler of Hell and his underlings. He just would need to formulate a plan now, to take over that desirable position of the leader. Pandora’s Box would be helpful, but it couldn’t hinge on just that. There was a high possibility of Lucifer tearing the box from him and using it for his own goals. Gabriel would have to keep the artifact back until the moment he could use it without risking Lucifer to take over control again.

The wisp hadn’t reappeared, making Gabriel doubt just faintly that it really had been what had remained after a human had been used to craft an artifact. The whole process of the inception of Pandora’s Box was shrouded in mystery, but Gabriel knew well enough that humans had been routinely used to form the capsule of artifacts. They were useful, since their vessels could be filled both with holy and unholy energies, just as the creator desired.

The crux was that there was no guarantee that the artifact would always obey the commands of the holder. They could easily be overtaken by a being with greater willpower, and thus be used against the original holder. Gabriel had experienced first-hand that artifacts weren’t wielded without reason, and that their handling was a delicate balancing act. If he wanted to get close to Lucifer and make sure that he would be able to absorb his brother’s powers, then he would have to go about it in a fashion that wouldn’t make Lucifer suspect anything. And that was a truly dangerous game.

“Still pondering?” The wisp had reappeared, slowly circling around Gabriel. Since no one ever seemed to acknowledge it other than him, Gabriel presumed that it either knew how to hide, or that the demons just didn’t care.

“Yes. It is not easy being burdened with a great task.” Gabriel sighed quietly. “I need to make absolutely sure that the artifact remains under my control. Else, all planning and coming here will have been for naught. And I can’t just go about and draw demons into it. It would give me a good power boost, but it would alert my brother of the presence of the artifact, as well as give away to him how it works. And that is something I cannot have happening.”

“That is true, yes.” The wisp gave a sigh, but it sounded oddly distorted with the lack of emotion behind it. “But I think that you will find a way. And I might just help you. Even if there is nothing to gain for me. Well, other than finally getting out of here, and knowing that the box has finally been lead towards its completion. Knowing that it finally is used properly, that is all I want to have happening. I don’t know why it took so long, however. I think that it is a shame, really.”

“And that is why I seek to rectify this. It is incredible that such a powerful artifact should go unnoticed. And that is why I will try to use it to its full potential.” Gabriel looked at the wisp, and tried to make out a face, even though he knew that it was unlikely there was anything remaining behind of what the human behind it once might have looked like. “I think that it might just be enough to absorb all of what has remained of the power of the first fallen. And it is a terrifying power indeed. The awesome expanse of it once made him the undisputed ruler, so there’s nothing that should keep me from wiping out Dracul and his brood when I finally hold it.”

“That is true.” The wisp gave a chuckle, and it chilled Gabriel. There was a faint trace of malice in that chuckle, not the usual emotionless sound. “Seeing that Hell rises to the cause would be a nice thing. And your gate should give the demons ample opportunity to invade Earth.”

“Aren’t you worried about that?” Gabriel couldn’t stop himself from asking, and then shook his head about himself. “Why would you. You are here now, and you have no ties to the human world any longer. You haven’t had them for centuries.”

“Correct.” The wisp swished back and forth in the air, and it seemed like the tip of a cat’s tail while it is content and happy with its surroundings. “I simply want to be released now. I don’t care how it happens, and what must be sacrificed for it. There were no qualms about sacrificing me when the artifact was created, so why should I show anyone more mercy than was demonstrated for me?”

“That is a good question.” Gabriel slowly got to his feet. “Thinking about it…” He chuckled quietly. “I think that it should be easy to provoke Lucifer into flying into a rage. He is such a terribly prideful creature, he still won’t stand a mocking of his status. And he should get within reach of the artifact just fine. And it might backfire. But I need to show action now. If I linger for too long without doing anything, I might not be able to take over. But I should be able to handle Lucifer in his rage. It is not the first time he would fly into a rage over a petty argument.”

“It is your decision. But you have learned how to handle the artifact well enough, if Lucifer hasn’t noticed it to this point. Still, be advised, eager angel. You might find yourself at more of a disadvantage than you would like. So, you must tread carefully.”

 

***

  
  
“What do you want from me, brother?” Lucifer was visibly annoyed that Gabriel had shown up again. Gabriel let nothing of that influence his decision. He would act now, and he would show Lucifer that there was nothing he would be able to do to keep him from taking over Hell. The demons around them would see so as well, and in the end, Gabriel would triumph. He would not be deterred again of this thought by any objections anyone had.

“I want to talk to you about your way of conducting yourself. Do you not think that it is unbecoming of a ruler of Hell to act in such a petty, childish way?”

That, immediately, snapped Lucifer to attention. There were several high-ranking demons standing around them, but not one of them made a move. They all were not too keen on getting between two angels, and especially not between two angels of considerable power. Lucifer rose from his seat, fury showing in his face, but not yet consuming him. He was able to control his emotions, if often only barely. There was a fine line where Gabriel knew he could tread. If he was correct, then it would take a focused effort to really make Lucifer fly into the rage he wanted.

“Brother, you are treading on thin ice here.” Lucifer was up close to him in a heartbeat, and then was pacing around him like a predator. “I should remind you that I was the first to rebel against our dear Father. You, you just followed me out of a convenience. To tell me how to conduct myself is quite the bold move. But you should not hold back, should you now? Tell me exactly what you think about me.”

Gabriel didn’t show any signs of fear. Lucifer was powerful, yes, and he could have torn him to pieces if he just wanted to, but that didn’t change his opinion about his brother. There still was a much too big urge to brag about his power, with little to nothing to back it up. Especially his erratic behavior towards just one small statement didn’t bode well. Then again, demons weren’t exactly known for their subdued nature. They were all too eager to please their ruler, even if he was a worthless piece of hide in their eyes. They locked eyes, and in their gazes alone, unspoken words and tensions were manifesting.

“Since you lost to that fool Dracul, you have been nothing short of moping about your loss. Is that really how you want to be remembered? You needed centuries before you dared to challenge him a second time. And again, you underestimated him. He gave you a thrashing before, and he effortlessly pushed you back this time as well. How should that serve as an example of a strong leader?”

The deeper he could strike Lucifer with as few words as necessary, the better. He wanted to really make Lucifer’s blood boil. Gabriel held the artifact clutched in his hand. The wisp had allowed him the ability to manipulate the appearance of the box, which didn’t limit it to the form of a small, black metal box any longer. Right now, it was a spike, large enough to seriously wound, but small enough to still be concealed well enough.

“You haven’t fared that much better against the vampire lord himself.” Lucifer sneered with disdain. “You came down in this grandiose show to challenge the vampire, and yet you lost, painfully and in such a feeble manner… I wonder how you ever thought it would be a good idea to show your face against a seasoned fighter like him.”

“I could ask you the same, brother.” Gabriel was barely fazed by Lucifer’s retort. He had planned on taking over Dracul’s powers with the artifact first. But plans changed, and good plans would always fall back on several other varieties. “You had centuries. You knew the weaknesses of the vampire. And yet you failed to defeat him when you tried to make him kill his own son. You might have a good idea about what bonds can do, but you still underestimate how powerful they can be.”

Lucifer’s anger visibly flared, his wings rose – and in that moment, he was close enough, unguarded enough. Gabriel moved in a flash, his hand allowing the artifact spike to sink into the same spot Vampire Killer had struck seven years ago. Lucifer let out a gasp, his eyes wide, but it was too late now. In his unguarded rage, he had no way of taking hold of the artifact. Pandora’s box glowed, growing as it absorbed the vast powers of the first fallen. The demons around had turned their faces away, more out of fear that this could happen to them as well, rather than fearing what would become of Lucifer now.

The first fallen fell to the ground powerlessly. His body had become gaunt and near skeletal. The skin was so tightly stretched across the bones beneath that it looked like he was just a gasp away from death. Gabriel looked down on Lucifer with little emotion coming through. Pandora’s Box formed into a long dagger in his hand, pulsing with blue lines along the black metal.

“I’m sorry, brother. But it seems that your rule is over.”


	9. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are warning signs in the air. Everyone knows it, and it is time to rally possible allies.

The ripple came without warning, and snapped everyone to attention. Alucard just had been occupied with feeding, and the sudden spike made him snap his head up, which caused his fangs to cause even more damage to the neck of his victim. He couldn’t care about the blood spurting over him, as his senses immediately tried to pick up what had been the cause of this impulse. It was his responsibility to monitor anything in the city that was out of the norm, while his father overlooked the restoration of vital parts of the castle. Especially with the possibility of a second fallen angel hassling them, it was of the essence to keep a close eye on the power balance.

He dropped the unmoving body carelessly and moved swiftly through the streets. His hunger was quenched, for now. Alucard would have hoped to feed enough so that he would not have to seek out another victim for quite some time, but that was out of the question now. He had to find out what had happened, and what had come to the city. It perhaps would also lead him to the origin of the gate. But as much as he sought for the two hours following the ripple, he couldn’t find the source of it. Whatever had caused it probably had remained behind the portal. But for it to be able to send its presence through the gate like that…

He froze on a rooftop, perched like a gargoyle on an old church. His gaze swept over the streets, his senses trying to seek out anything out of the ordinary. Alucard could feel that something had changed in the power structure of the city. To every place, there was a signature, interwoven by the different sources of magic and power of the place itself. The city had seen many powerful beings, and thus had a very complex network of different powers behind it. But something had disturbed it, and now the powers were scrambling to restore the signature. To no avail. Something had attacked and infiltrated the weave of powers, and it was not going away any time soon.

“This is not good…” Alucard growled impatiently and then hurried across the roofs. The moon was out, but it looked off. Something rippled across it, whenever Alucard looked at it just out of the corner of his eyes. But as soon as he would turn his gaze towards it, there was nothing to be seen, and it got on his nerves. This was the tensest situation he had been in in a long time, and even more so than when he and his father had fought Lucifer seven years ago.

“Father.” Alucard had finally come to the outskirt of what had been restored to the castle. Gabriel stepped out of the shadows, giving him a hard stare. “I tried to find the source, but to no avail. The single ripple was all there was. But I could feel that something is disturbing the powers of the city. The demons are restless as well. Whatever happened, it is not good.”

“I thought so already.” Gabriel gritted his teeth, then shook his head and waved Alucard to follow him. “Can you tell me anything more about what you sensed? I was more occupied with overseeing the progress of the center chamber.”

“While it remained only a single ripple, it had an effect on the city’s signature. Something has nestled into it. It’s only detectable if you look at the disturbance it causes. If you try to get a better grasp of it, it will slip away immediately.”

Gabriel nodded faintly, then opened the door to the workplace of the Toy Maker. He was already hard at work at a setup of different flasks and burners, a doll-like construct by his side. Several of the flasks were under considerable stress, with liquids boiling and then turning freezing again. He looked up at the two of them, bowed deeply, and then immediately went back to work. The Toy Maker was worried about what had happened, and that was not exactly a comforting thought.

“Can you tell me anything that I don’t know yet?” Gabriel was not patient enough to waste any time on pleasantries. The Toy Maker quickly shook his head, which made Gabriel growl. “What can you tell me, then? Or is your knowledge useless right now.”

“I wouldn’t say it like that, but I can’t claim that what I learned so far is telling me anything revealing either. What I know is that whoever caused the ripple must have used an artifact of considerable force. Vampire Killer is an artifact, though it is not of the nature as I have observed it. What we are dealing with here is an artifact of forbidden origin. Whatever it is, it has been constructed by sacrificing a human, and turning this person into the vessel of whatever power the artifact houses.”

Alucard was stunned to hear this. He had heard in whispers that terrible things were possible with just the right mindset, but turning a human into a lifeless object was something that went beyond what he could imagine to be possible. He shook his head slowly, while Gabriel remained silent. They were both unpleasantly surprised by the revelation of the Toy Maker, but they had no knowledge which would have contradicted the statement.

Alucard finally had to break the silence. “How is this possible? How can a living being become a soulless object? I have heard that rituals and alchemy can cause just about anything to become reality, but this seems to go well beyond what should be possible or allowed. How is it possible for that to happen?”

The Toy Maker chewed on his bottom lip. “I have no definite answer as to the ‘how’ of the artifacts. What I can say is that they are incredibly dangerous. In the wrong hands, they can cause destruction beyond what is imaginable. Humans were used in such rituals, because they are perceptive to both good and evil forces. And only if the artifact can absorb about any kind of power, they can unfold their full, terrible potential.”

Gabriel nodded quietly, while Alucard still tried to wrap his mind around the concept of such an artifact. This would mean that probably only a very small number of such objects would exist at any time. They could too easily be abused for all kinds of sinister purposes, though some more good-natured spirits would probably wrongly think that they could be used for good. While the explanation still lacked substance, and to him sounded far-fetched, Alucard thought about it from the other side. He didn’t know what force it had been that had alerted them to something being wrong. The rippling effect he had spotted out of the corner of his eye was a sign he never had observed before. And the persistent disturbance of the powers that already had divided the city amongst themselves would explain a couple more things.

“If we assume that all of this is indeed true, then we are in a predicament.” Gabriel leaned back against a pillar, shaking his head slowly. “I’m still a little hesitant to believe what has happened is the effect of such an artifact. But I also know what humans, demons, and other human creatures can do, just so that they can have a small advantage over someone else.”

The Toy Maker nodded with a grim expression. “It is scary what the desire for power can bear witness to. But there are always ways to destroy the advantage.”

“I would not be so sure of that right away.” Gabriel sighed quietly. “If we don’t know what we’re going up against, this is an immense risk. And the way you phrased it, an artifact of that category could absorb even more force, making the bearer more dangerous to us. Could he also siphon our powers?”

“That, I cannot say.” The Toy Maker scratched his temple, while he observed the various liquids and concoctions in his flasks. One of the flasks had already shattered, but still had somehow retained its shape. It still looked like giving it a glare would be enough to just break it apart for good. “What is certain is that we should be prepared for an invasion. If this really originated from the gate, and could traverse it so easily, then something is about to come from it. Hell does not hesitate to throw new forces at Earth and Heaven. And there is a good chance that this came from the archangel you previously cast down, my Lord.”

Alucard silently agreed. The archangel, from what he had learned, was very much set on taking over power, for some skewed reasoning. There was no telling what he would be able and willing to do, and coming back with a force to be reckoned would just fit neatly into this desire for more power. If the archangel would lead the demons of Hell for a renewed effort to fight a war, then they would be at a serious disadvantage. Gabriel could command his own force, but it would be nothing compared to the forces of all of Hell.

“We might have to contact the Brotherhood of Light. Or what remains of it. The seven years since should have given them time to reform.”

Alucard gave his father a doubtful look. “I don’t know if that is a wise idea. They still don’t really like us, and that is an understatement. After all, we are the reason that our own bloodline has ended.”

Gabriel sighed quietly. “I am well aware of that, but that doesn’t change the fact that those humans could hold their own against the forces of Hell, even if some of them would be overwhelmed by the forces nonetheless. But that aside – how should we find them? They have gone into hiding well enough to make even us unaware of their movements. I suppose they are deep underground, maybe even deeper than we can fathom.”

Alucard grumbled softly, but then shook his head. “We should rather worry about where to find them. I’m sure they have to have some contact on the surface, and we should be able to find at least one contact out in the open. I don’t know if that will be enough to draw them out, however. But if they also felt the ripple – and I would presume they did – then they should come out on their own accord, without needing any further encouragement.”

“That much is true. But I still am not entirely convinced that this would be a wise idea. But if you think that it is necessary, then I won’t talk against it. We can use any additional force if we want to be victorious in this matter. There will be something arriving from the gate in some time. That is something we shouldn’t doubt.”

The Toy Maker cleared his throat softly. “I think I will be able to help finding the Brotherhood, and maybe mediate between them and you, my Lord. I will try my best, and I will send out my constructs. At the risk of losing some of my constructs, but this is something I should not be too worried about. A storm is brewing, I just know it. And when it comes our way, we should be prepared to strike back with power of our own.”


	10. Darkened Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm comes sooner than expected. There is no respite, only a flood of demons cheering on their new leader.

The words of the Toy Maker rang clearly in Alucard’s mind, and the following night would turn out to be the point where the storm already broke loose. They all would have hoped for a bit more of a respite, for something to delay the storm, but there was no such luck for them. They all were pulled right in when the first demons started streaming out of the portal. That was something none of them had anticipated. During the day between the ripple and the breakout, the constructs had tirelessly searched for the Brotherhood, but to no avail. The Toy Maker hadn’t anticipated for the constructs to find anything in such short time. But at the same time, he would have very much liked the storm to not come so soon, and not so violently.

Gabriel and Alucard both set out immediately to stem the flood of the demons coming from the gate to Hell. There now was no doubt where the portal laid, but it was impossible to access it right now. Instead, there were just hundreds upon hundreds of demons darkening the night skies. A full moon hung low in the skies, but even that eventually was blotted out by the silhouettes of uncounted creatures swarming high up into the skies, and then plummeting down all over the city. The two vampires were well aware that they could not kill all the demons on their own, but that wouldn’t keep them from decimating their numbers as best as they could.

The whole time Alucard was slicing through demons, constantly vigilant that his defense would not be broken, he wondered who had sent them out in the first place. Lucifer never had shown ambitions to unleash such an attack after they had put him into place a second time. The horrifying thought that a second fallen angel, and an archangel no less, could have unleashed those hordes was at the forefront of his mind. And there was little to doubt it, since the screeching of the demons hinted at a new leader in their midst. The passion of the moment, as well as their determination to cause as much destruction as somehow possible, distorted their voices and made their words hard to understand, but even so, Alucard had little trouble discerning that they were using completely new tactics.

The demons came in perfectly composed groups, each of them supporting the others, and eliminating weaknesses of their partners. It didn’t keep Crissaegrim from cutting through countless of their bodies, injuring and killing many on the spot, but it still didn’t bode well. If there had been more supporters for their side, Alucard was quite sure that not all of them would have stood up against this punishing amount of demons rushing at them. They were already struggling to keep up with the sheer number, and there was little doubt that there were many more to follow.

Amidst the dark bodies of the demons, veiled in a strange shadow, Alucard believed to see flashes of color. There seemed to be others fighting amongst the demons. If they were supporting the demons or fighting against them was hard to tell. Even amongst the demons fights broke out, from the sheer overwhelming energy that was pulsing through all of them. Alucard had a hunch that the shadow showing on the demons was an effect from their new leader, and that it was a way of determining who would receive more attention from that leader than others. Eliminating demons only seemed to serve this aura to grow thicker around the demons that were only injured or not bothered at all yet.

 _‘We can’t close the gate after all, can we.’_ The voice of his sire rang out clearly in Alucard’s head, and he sighed quietly. This was a dangerous distraction, but he would not comment upon it. Instead, he fought on, with the same wild energy that he always showed. Blood would fuel them, and demon blood was no different to them than human blood. Maybe even better, with how much energy was contained within it. _‘Do you have any ideas as to whom could be leading them? I have a hard time believing that an archangel would be at the head of this swirling mass.’_

_‘I’m afraid it’s just that. The Toy Maker has been right before, and right now nothing suggests that his guesses and estimates were off in any way or form. We should be vigilant. It seems that the archangel indeed has taken over. I never felt that energy around Lucifer, and it should be enough to tell us that something new is happening.’_

That answer didn’t seem to please Gabriel, but Alucard had just stated what he thought to be true. And as he had stated, he had seen nothing that would have suggested that the Toy Maker had made a grave mistake about his statements on what could be the cause of this sudden surge of demons coming forth. The leader was nowhere to be seen, but that was not surprising. Alucard couldn’t imagine that the archangel would immediately come forward as the leader, and challenge them directly. That would have been the tactic of the prideful creature Lucifer, but not of this anger-filled beast he had seen in the archangel.

This very same anger now seemed to be fuel the assault of the demons. They were whipped into a frenzy unlike anything Alucard ever had seen before. Nothing seemed to be able to stop the waves and waves of demons crashing into the streets of the city. The relentless assault aimed at wearing them down. But with the demons also came an endless supply of blood, which began to color the streets of the city from the sheer amounts that were spilled. Like that, Alucard and Gabriel were able to sustain their strength without trouble, but that didn’t alleviate the trouble of having to fight thousands of enemies at all.

The Toy Maker’s constructs joined the fight, becoming whirling storms of blades and glinting metal. They were a small relief in their efforts of fighting. It would have been beneficial if the Brotherhood had joined the fight as well, but they could spot not a single of them amongst those who stood out against the demons. It was hard to spot anything other than the constructs at any rate. The constructs left only shreds of demonic flesh and blood, and their glinting in the moonlight gave away their position. But other than the glinting of metal, nothing stood out. No colors, nothing. It was as if anything but blood red had been eliminated from the spectrum of visible colors.

There were strange, long wails running through the demons, originating from the gate and traveling fast from throat to throat. The calls were slow in succession, but the longer the fight was lasting, the quicker they came. At first, the change in pace was barely noticeable, but after a while, the frequency was definitely increasing. Alucard shuddered at the strange calls. They felt like the calling out to the leader to follow, since the demons already had besieged the city thoroughly. Alucard had no illusions about the fact that they were severely outnumbered. No matter how many allies they would have had, there was no way that they could have possibly outnumbered the demons.

The calling suddenly reached a new pitch, and the demons flew up into the skies again, at least those with wings. They prevented any moonlight coming down into the city, but that was not necessary anyway. An ominous shine was starting to emerge from the portal, growing in intensity as the frantic chanting did. It had a purple tinge to it, the intensity being so enormous that it already began hurting Alucard’s eyes. It seemed brighter than the sun, and for a moment, he thought that there was no way that this was not Lucifer. The Lightbearer seemed to be the only one who possibly could create such a light, with the aid of the artifact perhaps, that the archangel had brought down to Hell with his fall.

But whatever was coming from the portal did not carry the same signature as Lucifer did. No, it was something entirely different. And it was certainly not like the archangel, whom Alucard had felt a couple of days previously.

An explosion of energy radiated from the portal, throwing the flying demons higher into the air, killing some of the weaker ones on the spot. A figure with brightly glowing blue wings emerged from the portal, an incredible darkness showing where the heart of the figure should be. The demons stopped in their movements, as if they suddenly had been frozen in mid-move. Alucard could even kill a couple more with a single swing, but none of them reacted any longer. They all were focused on that gleaming figure.

 _‘So this is the new nature of our enemy.’_ Gabriel’s voice sounded calm enough, but Alucard could sense that his father and sire was unsettled. Lucifer had made a big show of his appearance as well, but this was on a whole different scale. _‘The Toy Maker was right about quite some things. Even about the nature of the artifact, it would seem.’_

Alucard grumbled softly, and shook his head. There was no telling if the Toy Maker really was correct about the artifact quite yet. But what couldn’t be challenged was that the aura of the artifact was sinister, to say the least. There was something utterly wrong about it, something that simply was revolting, and that was feeling like it was an affront to nature, as well as what had become unnatural.

“You are all going to die.” The demon next to Alucard had started snickering, and not only one demon. Several demons began snickering, chanting that there was something about to happen. More and more went along, creating another feverish and maddening chanting, like the one before the figure had appeared. The air was charging up with something that seemed to be electrical on the skin. Then, it suddenly turned into a slimy feeling, and Alucard was physically repulsed by what was forming. He shuddered and shook his head. This was simply going beyond what was thought to be possible.

Gabriel had jumped up to the roof of the very same church he had spent such a long time in, and Alucard followed him. He did so without thinking that there was anything odd about it. Only after he had landed on the roof of the church did it occur to him that something could be wrong about his action. His sire, after all, had fought Lucifer before, and another angel shouldn’t have been a challenge for him. But still, with the artifact taking such an effect already, and with the demons chanting, there was no question about it in Alucard’s mind. He would stand by the side of his father, and he would not back down when the archangel would finally confront them.

“Are you sure you want to be up here with me?” Gabriel seemed amused, even pumped to get to fight someone of such considerable strength. “You will have to pick up the pieces, after all. I’m not sure how much of the archangel will be left as soon as I’m through with him.”

“I don’t know if you should be so very cocky about this whole ordeal. I’m not convinced that this will be a trifle like Lucifer’s second appearance was.”

They exchanged a look, and mutually decided that it was better to remain quiet now. The archangel was slowly approaching them, the unnatural wings made from this blinding light never moving even an inch. The winds died down, and this let the heat of the day come back over the city. The winds had kept it relatively cool, but now nothing gave relief any longer. It was apparently the archangel’s wish that they should feel as uncomfortable as possibly. Alucard thought to himself that he could return this favor a thousand times. He would make sure that the angel would suffer for this long enough to curse his own decision to ever have come here with the demons in tow.

“Very well. Then we face our adversary together.”


	11. Crushing Defeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A will as strong as the attacker's can't be easily broken. And soon, it might just be enough to rip the city from the fangs of the two most powerful vampires in the world.

Gabriel looked down at Dracul and his little fangling. They were waiting for him right on top of the only tall church of the city, and it made him scoff softly. They were still clinging to their fate in so many ways, and that was simply pathetic. Just as pathetic as the shell that had remained of Lucifer. His light was now what was powering Gabriel’s artifact. Pandora’s Box seemed to no longer be the correct name for this magnificent source of power. He would think of a proper name in time. But now, there were two annoying bloodsuckers to be squashed like the pests they were.

He didn’t bother hiding that he now was in the superior position. He didn’t even need to dirty his hands if he really wanted to. He would just be able to use the artifact and bend the powers of the demons to his will. He could drain them to his pleasing, and release them again however he thought it appropriate. But with Lucifer’s essence trapped in the box, it would be impossible for the vampires to overcome him. His brother simply never had used his powers to the full extent.

It already was quite pleasant to have every single demon under his control. Gabriel only needed the equivalent of a twitch of his little finger, and the demons would chant in an ecstatic fury. He had them in his palm, and he would make sure that he would keep them as pleased as somehow possible. In their addled state, they would forgive a couple of mistakes, but making the biggest of them all – losing to the vampires – was not an option.

He dissolved the wings as soon as he touched down on the roof of the church. There was no need wasting energy unnecessarily if he was already that close to the vampires. He would need all of his energy to keep up with the two opponents in a battle. If they really would go toe to toe with him at the same time, then he would need to watch out. But he still was confident that there was no trouble for him keeping up this time. He had the power, he had the means, and he definitely had the will to see this through.

Dracul wasted no time attacking, and Gabriel wasted just as little energy evading swiftly. He would not risk taking another direct hit from the vampire. There was already enough danger in the whip that Dracul could summon directly from his cursed blood, not to forget the powers of the Void and his other weapons. There was enough destructive potential in every single blow of the vampire, and he would take no chances. Gabriel was set on destroying every last shred of confidence that held Dracul together. He would just need to tear down the person behind Dracul, and then everything would falter around him. Alucard would follow just as easily.

Alucard already interfered with the fight, and Gabriel gave an annoyed grunt. He would much have preferred to just fight against Dracul, a difficult enough opponent on his own. But to have his little fledgling weigh in was an unwelcomed distraction. Alucard was dangerous on his own, and it would have been easier to get them separated. But since the demons had done little to slow the vampires down, it seemed necessary that he would take care of everything himself. But that would also provide ample proof that he was the rightful new leader of Hell.

“Do not underestimate me, archangel.” Dracul spat out, and a fiery red glow had come to his eyes. That was a sure sign that he was getting drunk on the heat of battle. That was what Gabriel wanted to see. This uncontrolled energy, that would lead Dracul to hopefully make fatal mistakes over the course of their fight. “I have torn you to shreds before, and I will do so again gladly. And this time, I will make sure nothing of you remains behind.”

Together with Alucard, Dracul attacked in earnest now. Gabriel couldn’t dodge all of the attacks, but he could siphon some amount of energy from the vampires, without them noticing much of it. Gabriel sneered about this development. The vampires were so used to being the superior party of the fight, they barely acknowledged when they lost some energy without them spending it in a move. It was baffling how dull their senses had become in some sense. With how much effort they had put into becoming the top of the food chain, it was baffling that they could drop their defenses just as readily.

Gabriel misdirected an attack of Alucard, and countered with a flash of the dagger-like artifact. The vampire gave a howl of pain, and jumped back. Thick, congealed blood was dripping from the vampire’s body, and he gave Gabriel a furious glare. Little more than an animal. That was what this young fangling was. And his father was none the better. They both were overdue to be put out of their misery. They were an affront to his eyes, and he was intent on eradicating them from this world. And even if they would manage to escape, he would make sure that they would do so only in shame and with as little energy left as possible.

Another flurry of attack came from Dracul, and this time, Gabriel made good use of the artifact. It obeyed his command readily, much more so than it already had when he had struck down his brother. The siphoning effect was becoming more pronounced, and Dracul had to rip himself away to escape the blade. Both vampires were furious now, but neither of them made the mistake of attacking completely senselessly yet. But Alucard soon broke the short silence that had fallen upon the battle, when he transformed into a humanoid wolf and lashed out against Gabriel.

Gabriel had heard of Alucard’s abilities, and his fearsome strength as a wolfman, but that was beyond what he had imagined it to be. The enormous claws were long enough to be daggers themselves, and were enough to leave gashes on Gabriel’s arms. But no sooner than they had been caused, he healed them with some of the energy of the artifact. He would not risk losing strength even from a single cut. As long as he had not subdued the two vampires, he would leave nothing to chance. And with that thought alone, the artifact glowed bright as the sun, enveloping the whole church.

The vampires were blinded by the brilliant light, but at the same time, Dracul unleashed his terrifying dragon form. The shadowy dragon attacked him with a roaring that could not be compared to any sound that could be heard in this world. Gabriel had to expend more energy than he would have expected to fend off the dragon, which was furiously lashing out. At about that time, he lost sight of Alucard, but he already had commanded the strongest demons to take care of the fangling. He had no patience for games. This strike would end within the next hours, and then, this city would be the foothold of Hell for the whole Earth.

The castle beneath was pulsing with power, angry about whatever was attacking its masters. That would be the next on Gabriel’s list. He would make sure that the foundations of the castle were ripped out of the heart of the city. Nothing would remain behind of the influence of the vampires. Absolutely nothing was to remember of the influence Gabriel Belmont once had held over this part of the world.

Somewhere far off, the wolf was howling desperately under the onslaught of demons. The dragon would not escape Gabriel’s grip, however. The shadowy figure tried to outmaneuver him repeatedly, but the archangel would haven none of it. A cage out of pure light appeared around them. It would allow both to maneuver, the dragon less so than the archangel, but it would also ensure that there was no escape for the transformed vampire.

“Give up, wretched creature. I have no use for you, as does this world. The world has forsaken you long ago anyway, so why do you keep on clinging to this overinflated self-importance of yours?”

The dragon of course couldn’t answer him. It was questionable if he understood anything any longer, and wasn’t simply acting upon instinct alone. There was no telling, really, and Gabriel cared too little to spare much of a thought on it. He wanted to eradicate this plague from Earth. It was just another little obstacle to fulfill the life-long dream of so many demons, and ensure that he would remain in power in Hell. There was no telling how many demons were having aspirations of their own. If he wanted to make sure that his rule would not be challenged for a long time, he would have to stamp out his opposition in a demonstration of superior power.

Their struggle lasted for longer than Gabriel had anticipated. Empowered by the rivers of blood streaming throughout the city, Dracul was able to retain his dragon form for a nearly unlimited amount of time. He would not leave the dragon form any time soon, and Gabriel would have to somehow interrupt the flow of power if he had any hope of forcing the vampire into a position of weakness. Gabriel focused more power onto the artifact, and sent a pulse down into the blood itself. The demons had spilled all of it, and it would heed his call, and the call of the artifact. It took several minutes, but eventually, the flow of blood towards Dracul ceased, and instead, it was absorbed by the artifact.

Dracul fell down onto the church roof, panting, but still not wounded. Gabriel followed him slowly, a smirk spreading on his face. He couldn’t help it – seeing Dracul in this situation was just too satisfying. His feet touched the roof of the church, and there still was no reaction from the vampire. He wasn’t terrified, but he certainly was furious with how little he could do against the archangel. And Gabriel drank it in like the finest wine he had ever tasted.

“What is the matter, oh great vampire? Are you not satisfied with how this fight is proceeding? You should have known that someone would, one day, overreach you. You couldn’t possibly have thought that you would be at the top of the food chain forever?”

“Believe whatever you will, pigeon. You will never break my spirit. Years of solitude couldn’t do that, and you won’t be able to do it either. I will rip you apart, and if it is the last thing I will do.”

Gabriel sighed quietly, shaking his head slowly, as if he was admonishing a small boy. That, of course, sparked more fury in Dracul. “So sure of yourself, yet only a few days after our first encounter, you are already losing everything. Your son will soon be swallowed up by the demon hordes. And I will take care of you personally. So, prepare for your death. It is what you wished for so desperately, or was I mistaken?”

Again, the blinding light came forward. Gabriel gave the vampire no more chances. He attacked with a speed that couldn’t be matched by Dracul for a long time. The cut supply of blood was soon taking its toll, and with how irate the vampire had become, there was no doubt that soon enough, the vampire would lose the last bit of his self-control.

Over all of this, the moon hung low in the sky, not having moved since it had risen to its height when the gate had begun spewing forth the demons. It would remain night for a long time, now that the archangel was in control. This would provide the new breeding grounds for the demons. And somewhere in this blast of light, Dracul vanished. His signature was gone, and Gabriel was confident that he had gotten rid of the vampire. Soon after that, Alucard’s energy had vanished as well. It was then that the demon started cheering the victory of their glorious leader.


	12. Motes of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel narrowly escaped with his life. Now, they need a fool-proof plan to take back the city from the false sun.

A sharp pain accompanied every breath as Gabriel awoke from what seemed to be an eternity of darkness. His body felt weak and brittle, worse than it had felt after his long torpor in the church. A figure had bent over him, and was holding a bowl of something. The smell that hit Gabriel’s nose was unmistakable. He couldn’t move towards it, but the figure bent down and gently tilted the bowl, so that he could drink from it. Gabriel swallowed greedily, and after some time, the blood had alleviated part of the brittle feeling from his body. But it was not enough to completely restore his condition. At the very least, it allowed his vision to focus, and really take in what was happening around him.

In the air, there were countless soft, blue lights. It looked like fireflies or motes, but they were more than sufficient to lighten up the surroundings. Gabriel received some help to sit up, and he finally recognized the robes that the person was wearing. It was a member of the Brotherhood of Light, and more importantly one of the few women who would have joined this elusive connection. Alucard was a little off to the side, still bandaged up, which was an odd sight, but he was sufficiently well. They exchanged a long look, and in both of their faces, the same question appeared. What had happened, and how had they come here?

“Where…” Gabriel cleared his throat and hissed immediately. It had felt raw, but now, it seemed like daggers were stabbing into his flesh as he tried to get rid of the rough tone of his voice. “Where are we?”

“In the last bastion in this city, it appears.” The woman wore a hood, so it was impossible to see her face. Her voice, however, reminded Gabriel of Marie, and for a moment, he was stunned. But he tore himself out of his surprise fast enough. It couldn’t be. Marie was a specter of his past. A pleasant specter, but of the past nonetheless. “We found you and your fledgling at the entrance to our hideout. It was serendipity that he would find it. Your son rescued you, from the gaze of the new darkened sun that rules over this city.”

Gabriel needed a moment to understand what the woman was trying to tell him. The archangel had taken over control of the city. Worse still, when he stretched out his senses to feel how the city was faring, he could only feel minute traces of the old castle. Whatever had happened, he had been out for quite some time, and the results were shaking him to the core.

“We underestimated our opponent.” Alucard’s voice sounded similarly hoarse, but he made no effort to clear his throat. “And we underestimated how much he was willing to do to defeat us. He wielded not only the power of Lucifer, but also the power of countless demons that we slaughtered. He used our zeal against us, and nearly killed us.”

Gabriel nodded faintly, automatically patting along his side. Vampire Killer was still there, safe and sound at his side. It seemed that even the new, terrifying power of the archangel hadn’t been enough to eliminate them. But he still had been able to knock them out for a good while. The woman explained to them that it had been at least three weeks since they had been found. She also added that it had become difficult to tell time. The sun never rose, and only a strange, sickly moon stood in the skies, while the radiant form of the archangel would light up the city. The humans had all fallen under a spell, and none of them seemed to notice the demons feeding on their power. At this rate, the city would not be enough to feed the enormous appetite of the newly formed demonic hive. The city’s inhabitants were not the only ones at risk.

“I’m afraid that for the time being, you can’t do much about it.” Still, the voice perturbed Gabriel. Something at the back of his mind told him that he should command the woman to remove her hood, so that he finally had confirmation. But he didn’t move to do anything. He didn’t want to scare her. “We also found the Toy Maker, but he is in a bad state. You and your fangling both are fortunate that you are so very resilient. His constructs are tending to him at the moment, so we could be free to take care of you. I’m still astonished you recovered so fast. The surge of power our elders felt was terrifying beyond words.”

“I suppose so.” Gabriel carefully got out of bed and stood, sighing quietly. He didn’t feel all well yet, but it was much better than the buzzing feeling at the back of his mind, which had quieted down after the bowl of blood. “May I meet those elders?”

The woman lifted her hand, and the gesture had something gentle, even maternal about it. “You should still give your body some rest. I know that you’re impatient to find out what happened, and plan a strategy to strike back. But you must understand that we have no idea what is happening right now in the city. It has become very dangerous moving outside as a human, as the light of the false sun would immediately ensnare us. Your son recently tried to exit into the city, but was harmed by the false sun. It is not a burn, but the mark still has barely healed. Whatever the archangel is doing out there, it is posing an additional threat to anyone who could possibly challenge him.”

Gabriel growled quietly, but didn’t talk against it. He tried to stand, but as soon as he stood, his body began acting up, and he had to sit down on the bed again. The blinding light the archangel had emitted had been enough to weaken him to such a degree, which was aggravating him. It was a personal affront. He was the strongest being in this city. He was the dragon. And he had remained unchallenged for long enough to cement his near-mythical status in the lore of the land. Being outdone by an upstart archangel with crazy ambitions stung.

“If you want to, I can fetch you another bowl of blood. We have enough to spare for you.” The woman chuckled quietly. “And maybe, you can teach your son a couple of manners. He seemed rather eager to get to know the women of our order. For being a predator, he still seems to have a lot of human urges.”

Gabriel involuntarily began laughing, which made Alucard groan in embarrassment. The mere mental image of Alucard trying to flirt with a terrified human woman was amusing to Gabriel. “I think I will have a talk with him later on. But for now, I would very much prefer to have more blood, to be able to recover.”

Even after the woman had returned with more blood, and some gentle advice how to lay on the bed to not aggravate his body more, Gabriel still had no opportunity to get a good look at her face. His mind had finally been able to recognize her voice as a voice different from Marie’s, but there still were similarities he couldn’t ignore. Besides, he was surprised that she was so willingly coming close to him, while she should be well aware that he was a terrifying beast. Why she still would show no fear around him was a mystery to him.

“Where did you get the blood from?” Gabriel wondered about it, since she had already explained to him that they could scarcely leave their hideout without risking their lives. “After all, it can’t possibly come from the city, or the Red Cross.”

The woman chuckled quietly. “It is from some of our warriors. They all gave a small part, in hopes that the combination of their essences might aid you better than the essence of just one. Besides, we need all of them ready to strike at any time. The demons still are searching for us, and we cannot risk losing our last foothold in the city. We are far down beneath the city, and that makes us both safe and be at risk. The false sun suspects us to be there, but can’t find us. Any demon that would come even close to discovering us will fall to the countless traps down here. And there still are the very foundations of the castle. We heard the demons hissing about needing to root out those last foundations, but by now, we are half convinced that it is impossible.”

Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows lightly, while he drank from the bowl. This was a strange way of putting it. But it was true – the foundations of the original castle, which had stood here long before any city ever had been built. The blood of the castle was running through the foundations, and it would definitely fight back against being destroyed. He had a hunch that this was also the reason why Alucard and him had even recovered from the attack of the false sun. The castle hadn’t spent all that energy to beg him to remain without reason. It would surely not give up on him easily.

“If that is the case, then the archangel is in for a surprise. He hasn’t taken over the castle yet. I can feel that. And it is not willing to give up on existence. It is still tied to me, and it will never let go, if there is nothing to pry it from me and attach it to a new vessel.” He gave the woman a long look, wanting to see if she responded to it in any way. She simply nodded slowly. “The blood of the foundations, and the city around it, anchor me to this place. I have survived thanks to that, and I will not repay the castle by keeling over and giving up. It is the reason why me and my son are here right now.”

“That is what I thought too.” Alucard shuddered slightly. “To think that we have to confront the false sun again is angering me. We should have been able to tear this cursed creature to shreds without trouble. But something went wrong. And I still can’t wrap my mind around what happened to make us fail.”

“We were haughty. That is all that I can think of. The archangel failed in his previous ambitions because he was haughty in his confrontation with me.” Gabriel wasn’t easily admitting it, but he had to confront what he had done wrong, if he wanted to have any chance of rectifying his mistake and tearing the archangel limb from limb for his cocky takeover. “And we underestimated the effects of Pandora’s Box. I’m convinced that it has to be that. The castle whispered it to me during the fight, but I was unwilling to listen. And I paid the price for that.”

“Then what is the plan of striking back? I’m sure that you already were thinking of something, father.”

Gabriel remained quiet, while he thought it over. It was clear that they would not be able to directly confront the archangel. There was no way that the false sun would let go of the artifact, so they had to find a way to somehow separate artifact and holder. Only then, they would have a good chance of attack. And they would have only one chance to execute the plan. They wouldn’t escape the harsh gaze of the false sun a second time.


	13. Foundations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alucard is in for a surprise. But there is also no time to lose. The longer they give the false sun, the less likely it is for them to win.
> 
> (Wouldn't have thought that this would happen, but, eh. If the characters want to come out, they want to come out.)

Alucard had moved deeply into the hideout of the Brotherhood of Light. In many places, the hideout was a precarious drop away from a lethal fall. The caverns beneath the city went deep, but Alucard had not anticipated to see such a deep expanse. It did accommodate the castle, though. The castle that was returning with every return of its master would also still be there underground. Which was actually rather beneficial, since the sun would never reach so deep. And still, they were at the very lowest part of the former castle, and that was only a heartbeat away from Hell, as it sometimes had been described.

The foundations still laid there, waiting for its master to rear it again. But Alucard was not sure how good of an idea it was to ignite the heat of the blood flowing through the foundations. The blood of the castle itself was a very moody entity, and it had been dangerous to its masters before. And if the false sun got a grip of that very blood, then everything was lost. Then the castle would turn its back on its former masters, and embrace the archangel as its new master. It would heed his every call, and the demonic hive of the city would become more powerful, and deadlier.

“You have come down far.” The woman was there again, and she looked worried. She still wore her hood, but Alucard didn’t care much for that. He was more interested why she was worried about him. She should know that he was a fearsome predator, and that fear had become a companion he knew well, but had under control. Being completely free of fear would have been detrimental, but being controlled by it would also have been catastrophic.

“I needed to make sure that the castle still is under our control, and not just feels comfortably familiar. It could have a detrimental effect, if it had already fallen under the control of the archangel.” Alucard shook his head slightly, and gently touched the remains of the foundations. They felt warm and alive, as much of the castle always had felt.

“I don’t know what to think about the castle. It is alive, that much I feel. But it also seems much like a sleeping predator, just waiting to awaken. It feels like a dragon on its hoard.”

“That is a fitting comparison.” Alucard sat down on one of the stairs. The stone looked worn, but he could also feel that the stairs were still very much solid. “Dracul might be the dragon, but the castle is the mother waiting on the hoard, and who welcomes her dragon back whenever he wishes to return. It is a privilege to be in the castle, but also an obligation that should not be taken lightly.”

The woman nodded quietly, then sat down surprisingly close to Alucard. She then pulled back the hood, and for a moment, Alucard was stumped. She looked almost like Marie, much like a sibling or relative would be similar to someone of a previous generation. “I don’t quite understand this connotation, but I can see how the castle draws attention and fascination. I suppose that you are tied to the castle much like your father?”

“Yes.” Alucard needed a moment to catch himself. He had been so surprised by the revelation of her face that he still had difficulties to convince himself that this was not, in fact, a conjuration by the Brotherhood of Light. It was forbidden by their own teachings to draw upon knowledge which would have permitted them to forge a homunculus of the same appearance as Marie.

“Are you alright?” The woman blinked in surprise, then touched her own cheek when she became aware that Alucard was staring at her. “Is it something that I said, or something that you saw?”

“Forgive me for staring, but you resemble my mother. It seemed just like she was standing there for a moment. But I recognize that you just happen to look like her. The Brotherhood of Light wouldn’t have created someone to fool me and my father like that…”

“No, they wouldn’t.” Alucard cursed himself that he had spoken that last bit aloud. That hadn’t been his intention, but the confusion that the woman had caused in his mind was just too overwhelming. The woman then smiled. “My name is Claire. I’m one of the healers and seers of the Brotherhood. I am a specialist in divination, and I am mostly occupied with observing changes in the power balance.”

Alucard slowly nodded. He didn’t think much of divination, since it seemed like a very inaccurate method of monitoring what was going on. But he supposed that humans with the correct attunement to such changes could tell a lot about what was going on. He had overheard a couple of other members of the Brotherhood saying that Claire’s predictions and observations were accurate as ever, as well as some speculation as to why the leader had instructed her to only show her face after some time. Apparently, the leader had been aware that she looked a lot like Marie.

“What exactly did your divinations tell you?”

Claire could tell him quite something. The most obvious change in the power balance of the city was that anything non-demonic had been pushed to the background, and was barely detectable any longer. This also played into their hands, as it hid them from the false sun. It also meant, though, that they would face an enormous opposition as soon as they would leave their hideout. This was the reason why they were staying put, while the Toy Maker, who by now had recovered enough to sit by while someone else did the work, and their experts in alchemy and transmutation would work on a solution for this precarious situation.

“In short, we are at a disadvantage almost all around. Our only little ace is that we are invisible to the false sun at the moment, and that the demons don’t like venturing into the underground. It would probably be possible for the demons to slowly corrupt the blood of the castle. But as long as its masters are there, it is doubtful that the demons will be successful. After all, the archangel is not the same as them. He still is a fallen, not a demon. That makes a huge enough difference that the demons will not provide much of a basis for his grab at power.”

“So, your hunch is that the demons are not fit to provide the archangel with a foothold on the foundations.”

“Yes.” Claire shook her head slowly. “But it is not a guarantee. It is not even so much as a security. We have observed the blood of the demons flowing into the foundations and being absorbed by them, and so far, the power of the foundations is not changed. But that doesn’t have to be like that forever. The castle provides us with the traps that keep the intruders away, now more so than ever because its masters need protection. If this should turn against us, we are sitting ducks. We would need more clarity on what is going on.”

Alucard gave a humorless smile. “Aren’t you supposed to give clarity?”

Claire laughed lightly, and only then, Alucard realized he had made a rather flat joke. He shook his head with a feral growl, and Claire quickly shut up. She blinked at him with surprise, and he apologized with a grumble. She straightened her robes, then sighed quietly, and shook her head slowly.

“I should probably keep away from your father and sire, seeing that you are already so perturbed by my appearance. It would probably trigger a lot more memories in him than should be. I hope that he won’t be too insistent to finally see my face. He already seemed rather unsatisfied to not see it before, and my voice had a visible effect on him. The two of you are harder to read and understand, but I still reckon that I can understand what is going on. I know bits and pieces of the story, and I could guess that my appearance would be causing anxiety in him.”

“That is an understatement…” Alucard grumbled softly, then scratched his temple lightly. “I have seen how he reacted when he saw a mere mirage of my mother. He was out of his mind, and seeing you would probably have a similar effect. I know that you only look similar to her, but he would probably not see that. I already caught him mumbling about your voice not being the same, so that it couldn’t be truly her.”

Claire was visibly shaken at that statement. She nodded quietly, then pulled the hood up again. “Then I should keep my face in the shadows for the rest of your stay here. I don’t want to risk his mental balance to become so unstable, in such harrowing times. It would throw us back even further, and it would be a terrible setback.”

“We aren’t even planning on how to act upon the situation in the city yet.” Alucard sighed quietly. “I have seen my father limping about. He tries to mask everything, but to me, it is plain. I have suffered in my own right, but never to the extent my father did. Nevertheless, I understand that the scars run deep. He would experience setbacks indeed. I have no doubt that he would run berserk to some degree.”

Claire rubbed her hands together. “I’m mostly worried that he would lash out against the Brotherhood, and accuse them of having created something just to break him in. I wasn’t aware that I am this similar to Marie Belmont, but hearing it from you confirms it. I seem to indeed be a strange sort of rebirth of her. But I can assure you, I know practically nothing of Marie Belmont. I don’t remember anything that hasn’t happened in my life. All that I know of her is from story fragments passed down through the Brotherhood, and by the Belmont bloodline, which so tragically ended with Victor Belmont.”

Alucard furrowed his eyebrows. “Was he really the last of the Belmonts? It seems strange that the bloodline would end with him. Granted, it could have happened much sooner. I could have been the second and last of the illustrious bloodline, as some call it.”

Claire cocked her head to the side, while she thought about her answer. “I can tell you that all the way down from Gabriel Belmont, we have tracked several bloodlines. There are at least three families which came from the Belmont bloodline, in a sense that it was pure enough to hold the power of Gabriel Belmont even after such a long time. But after Victor passed away, we sought out the other possible Belmonts. We found none so far. That is, however, not a reason for us to stop looking.”

Alucard chewed on his bottom lip. “So, it is possible that there are more fighters out there than we would now. But so far, there is no proof that there indeed are more Belmonts. Even if there were, it would be unlikely they would understand what their obligation would be.”

“Indeed.” Claire rose from her seat, and gestured for Alucard to come with her. “But even so, we need to observe what we know now. And I think that with your help, I should be able to get a better idea about what is going on. I shall not be contented until I had a good look at how the city has changed. And we shall find a weak spot to abuse.”


	14. Setback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, the breakdown that was anticipated came earlier than thought.

Alucard didn’t need to approach much before he sensed that something was terribly wrong. Moments after he had reached the room that had been given to his father, Claire hurried out of it, visibly upset and close to tears. He didn’t hold her back, but did prevent her from going straight towards a gap in the stairs. She stumbled into the arms of one of the members of the Brotherhood, and he led her away, a suspicious glare still on his face. Alucard sighed quietly, then glimpsed into the room.

His father, despite having recovered a fair deal from his injuries, was sitting on the bed in a tightly curled up ball. He was shuddering violently, as if he was barely under control. This was not stemming from fury. Alucard would have sensed that. No, his father was having a breakdown. It was unlucky that this should happen right now, but Alucard guessed that it couldn’t have been prevented forever. At some point, Gabriel would have found out about Claire’s appearance. Her voice being similar to Marie’s already had disturbed him, but this added coincidence had pushed him over an edge.

“She can’t be. She can’t be. She _can’t_ be.” It was the same senseless fragment, muttered over and over again. Gabriel had dug his claws into his upper arms, not letting go, even as thick, blackened blood began dripping very slowly down to his elbow and from there onto the bed. “She simply can’t. She can’t be. She can’t be.”

Alucard was unsure how to proceed from here. He could have tried to talk to his father, but he couldn’t tell how the disturbed mindset would make Gabriel react. He probably would lash out, caught up in the memory that he had killed Marie, and many more innocent people, during his supposed crusade against the dark forces. Alucard didn’t know what would happen if he approached his sire any more. He already could feel Gabriel’s senses prodding about in his surroundings aimlessly, hectically searching for any threat that could be nearby.

Alucard crouched down next to the door, which he carefully pressed closed. He didn’t want the Brotherhood to gaze at his father like a wounded animal in a trap. If anything, no one should be close to Gabriel right now, if they didn’t value their life. Alucard was aware that he was just as much at risk as anyone else, since his father still carried the fragment of Vampire Killer. If he lashed out with it, Alucard was in serious danger of losing his existence once and for all.

“Father.” He spoke softly, but he knew that that might be enough to jolt Gabriel. And it did. Gabriel flinched visibly, and it wasn’t just because of the uncontrolled shuddering. He slowly lifted his head, and stared at Alucard. Or more likely, through him. There was nothing in his expression suggesting that he recognized Alucard at that moment. But there was also nothing hinting that he was about to lash out.

“Father, please. Listen to me.”

There was no reaction. Again, Gabriel curled up, and began rocking back and forth. But now, his muttering had changed. It had become a begging, whimpering plea for Marie’s and God’s mercy, for ‘I have committed the greatest sin of all’. Alucard bit his lower lip, shaking with slight anger. Claire should have watched out more. She had been aware that she was a danger to Gabriel’s mental state. Right now, since he was still so vulnerable after the attack of the archangel, that had been the last thing that should have happened. But now it had taken place, and there was no way to reverse it. If there had been a method to revert this situation in a heartbeat, Alucard would immediately have jumped at the possibility. Like this, he had to work carefully towards gently prying his father out of this precarious state of mind.

The rocking didn’t stop, however. No matter how Alucard tried talking to Gabriel, the most reaction he would get out of him was a jolt, a blank stare, and then the return to the rocking motion. Alucard wondered if this really was only because of Gabriel’s guilt over what had happened to Marie, or if there was something else at work here. He could well imagine so, since he would not have put it above the archangel to insert a sort of delayed trigger into Gabriel’s mind with his attack, to make sure that if his attack didn’t kill his enemy, it would at least aid him destroy every bit of self in him.

Only when Alucard gripped his father’s shoulder did he finally get a different reaction. It included Gabriel pressing his claws deeply into Alucard’s forearms, but finally, he seemed to really look at him. Alucard ignored the pain, which was rather acute, and knelt down in front of his father. “Calm down. You know that Mother forgave you long ago, right? You know that… You know that she still loves us both dearly. She helped you. Don’t forget that, Father.”

It had been a long time since he had addressed his father in such an affectionate manner, and it showed an immediate effect. Gabriel shuddered, then bloody tears slowly dripped down his cheeks. Again, the shuddering began, but not as violently and uncontrolled as it had manifested before. Instead, it was just the exhausted quivering of a body which already had been through all too much trouble.

“The way she looked at me.” Gabriel’s voice was small and broken, a tone that Alucard never had heard before. It was unsettling, to say the very least. “She looked at me in such a shocked manner… How could I…?”

Alucard was not quite sure if his father was referring to something his mother had done, or if he was talking about Claire. It seemed irrelevant as of the moment. Either way, it had struck his father to the core, and it would not go away for a long time, as it seemed now. Alucard gave a very small sigh, then embraced his father, and tried to calm him down. Only after long hours did his father finally calm down. Usually, Alucard would have attributed that to daylight slowly creeping up on them, but knowing fully well now that the skies had become permanently dark, it had to be exhaustion plain and simple.

 

***

  
  
“I know that I shouldn’t have entered the room.” Claire was inconsolable, but she also didn’t attempt to draw sympathy on her. Her eyes wandered over to Gabriel, who was sleeping restlessly, and it seemed to break her heart. She probably hadn’t anticipated Dracul to be more than just a heartless monster. “I just wanted to bring him the bowl, to feed him, but that it would escalate like that…”

Alucard gestured impatiently. “There is no use in complaining now. We have to find a way of tearing my father out of his trance. At this rate, he will remain stuck in this endless loop of guilt. That is what ultimately lead to more suffering for him. It would not do him any service to keep on wondering about what happened now. We need to act soon. We can’t risk him being caught up in memories forever.”

“You are afraid that could happen. I see.” Claire hadn’t questioned him, she had merely stated what she had observed. She pulled a pack of cards from her sleeve, but then shook her head and tucked it back in. “Divinations won’t help me here. I need to remain in the here and now. And I need to help your father back to the here and now. If I pushed him to the brink, then maybe I could be of help when it comes to pulling him back from it.”

“That is the idea, yes.” Alucard didn’t know how he could use Claire to help his father, but he just had to try and find a way. If she could draw the vampire’s attention back to the here and now, that would already be a big help. But how that was supposed to happen was an entirely different problem. And they still were in the middle of assessing their own position and now they could probably use the castle’s presence to turn the tide of the current events.

“Can I help in any way?” Claire was sounding a little desperate right now, but Alucard lifted his hand and thought about it. “I mean, if I already am responsible…”

“Let me think.” Alucard hadn’t wanted to formulate it that harshly, but he barely had any choice in this matter. Claire was being too chatty and too nervous for his taste, and he was trying his hardest to think of anything that would focus the attention of his father on a different part of his life. Maybe, it was time for Gabriel to revisit the castle. And with a bit of tricking, they could probably get the castle to react favorably towards this. Instead of intimidating his father into staying, the blood of the castle could help coaxing its master into action.

“We need to find a part of the foundations that was as close to the throne room as it is somehow possible. I don’t quite know how to guide the castle towards something, but I have a hunch that you could help me in this endeavor. I think that your divination might be necessary still. However, I urge you to show great caution. The castle is very easily distressed over anything attacking its master. In times like these, we might be able to convince it to take more action.”

“It seems difficult to imagine that a castle would help its master. But then again, this is the castle of the dragon.” Claire sighed quietly. “Alright. I will follow you into the bowels of the castle if it need be.”

 

***

  
  
Gabriel’s dreams were haunted by the memories of his past. Marie was reappearing, in the moments of her death, when she laid dying in her arms. He saw his son, how he had condemned him to the same existence as he had been condemned. But it soon looped back to Marie, and how she had whispered sweet words even as she had breathed her last breath.

Claire had triggered a flood of memories. Gabriel saw his wife, saw Marie dancing in the moonlight, blood on her white dress. The movements became weaker, and before Gabriel could catch her in his arms, she dissolved with a small shriek, leaving nothing behind but a few scraps of blood-drenched fabric.

Again and again, he saw the same scene, and it became increasingly disturbing. Soon, Marie was not even looking alive any longer, but looked increasingly decayed, until barely anything about her was flesh any longer. A skeleton was left to dance in the scraps of her dress, the skies blood red and black at the same time, and Gabriel could not wake from the nightmare, as much as he screamed and begged. It seemed to go on forever, and without ever showing any signs of letting up.

And then, she reappeared.

“Come, beloved.” She was alive again. Rosy cheeks, pale skin, a white dress, and those long, black locks, which framed the face of the most beautiful woman Gabriel ever had laid eyes on. She gently took his hand, and led him away from the scene. Whenever he wanted to look back, a gentle touch was enough to focus him back on Marie. The dark and blood red skies were left behind, and they entered the castle.

“Why are we going back to this place?” Gabriel was confused about the strange turn the dream had taken, and was tensely waiting for anything to show him that this would slip back into the opposite at any moment. But nothing like that happened. Marie led him to the inner courtyard of the castle, and there, a spring and luscious plants were waiting for them. They sat down in a gazebo, which was smelling of countless roses.

“You need a rest, beloved. Come. Relax. Leave the past behind, and focus on the present. Until you are ready, I will stay by your side.”


	15. Heartbeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alucard ventures deep into the foundations. It is time to prepare for a focused strike. And the first step involves a lot of dead demons and rivers of blood.

While his father was caught in a sort of torpor, Alucard descended deeper into the ruins. The Brotherhood had explored a good part of the foundations, and had found refuge within them, but they had not dared to go all the way to the bottom of the foundations. Alucard could understand their fears of venturing deeper. Unless it was a master of the castle, or at least the very next link in the chain of command, it was incredibly dangerous to come closer to the very base of the castle than absolutely necessary.

Through the ancient stone, he could feel the pulsating of the blood. Alucard guessed that there had to be something like a heart piece to the castle, the center of it, the brain of the conscience that suffused the castle and made it recognize its master, and choose to help him however it deemed necessary. Though it was hard to understand the ancient entity at times. It did not follow the same logic humans or vampires would follow. It was operating on a more primal level. Having made clear that it would perish along with Dracul, should it refuse to help, had been having an effect on the castle’s blood. Now it was just a question if it had reached the heart.

Claire had remained behind, to watch over Gabriel, and to continue her work of sensing changes in the flow of power, and the flow of the castle blood. It was important that they kept a close eye on it. The Brotherhood had provided a small stone with which he could stay in contact with Claire, and she could read from the foundations more easily. The deeper he ventured, the deeper the darkness became around him. His senses worked just perfectly fine here, but it was clear that the primal darkness down here had a mind of its own. And right now, he was lucky that it wanted him to be where he himself wanted to go. Otherwise, he would have become lost.

Further down in the darkness, he began to hear a loud beat. It coincided with the pulse of the castle blood, and Alucard became a little excited. If he was correct about the assumption that there was a central piece to the castle, then the heart couldn’t be far away. He probably was just about to stumble upon it. A red glow began to show in the darkness, faint, but still visible. And it was calling to him on a level that he had thought only Gabriel would be able to reach.

_‘Come closer. We want to see who is approaching us. We want to see who has told us that the master is in danger, when we cannot feel it as we used to.’_

Alucard felt a shudder down his spine. This had to be what had been referred to as Legion. The one who was many. It would only make sense that Legion would be the heart of the castle. With how much blood had been spilled onto the stone, and with how thick it ran through the foundations, it would only have been a matter of time until the castle blood had been suffused with uncounted numbers of souls and consciences.

“I have come here to find you, and to make sure that nothing is disturbing you. You must feel the false sun bearing down on the city, and how it is trying to take over everything. It tried to find you and exterminate you for good.”

_‘We know. We felt the false sun, and thus retreated further and further down, to where no sunlight will ever reach. No matter if it is the true light, or the false light. We are safe here.’_

Alucard nodded slowly. He had sat down in front of the pulsing mass. He couldn’t make out a shape per se, but that was not important. He just knew that he had reached what he had wanted to find. Now there was just to hoping that it would be easy to convince the castle to focus its efforts not only on protecting its master, but fighting alongside its master as well. Of course, there was always the risk that it would become a turncoat and join the side of the false sun, should its current master come too close to death for its taste. All the castle wanted was to live forever, and to have a master to rule over it.

“We can’t just hide away forever. One day, the sunlight may reach even here, and then there is nowhere to run and hide. There would be no one to protect you. With how the false sun said it, it wouldn’t want you. It would want you dead.”

_‘We are aware of that. But we can’t fight right now. We are still weak, and it takes a lot of energy to sustain that of the master. To make his mind clear again. You have convinced us once already. Why should you convince us again that something has to be done? What are you willing to do?’_

“I am willing to feed you. If you want more demons, I can bring them all here. I know that you are powerful enough to snuff them out. But I will also gladly help you. The blood of those creatures should feed you well.”

A shuddering pulse emanated from the heart, and for a moment, Alucard could make out more of a shape. It was a formless lump at first, but there seemed to be the outlines of vaguely human bodies. He believed to see arms, legs, torsos and faceless heads, all of them fused together into one, making it impossible to distinguish between different bodies. That had to be the shell of Legion. He had read already that this entity, the few times it had been observed, had been described as consisting of a shell of faceless bodies, and a centerpiece that defied explanation.

_‘We would much prefer humans. Your master fed us well when the humans attacked, with their machines, all this time ago. We also feed when our master does. So when you feed, you should feed us too. Are you willing to taste the putrid blood of demonbrood, just so that you can feed us?’_

Alucard laughed dryly. “I don’t care about the taste of their blood. I will do what has to be done in order to feed you. Sure, it would be nice to have humans to feast on, but we have no choice in this. We must take what we can get. Anything is good enough to fight against the false sun. After all, we want to rule the night again, don’t we?”

The hissed “YES!” from the heart was overwhelming. Alucard shuddered all over, as he felt countless little touches on his skin, as the heart was trying to pry its way into his mind. He had to chastise the heart before it would stop trying to take over his body. He hissed at the entity, and it hissed back, but much quieter than him.

“Bide your time. Soon, rivers of blood will feed you. You must stay vigilant. Nothing is allowed to take you over. Remember well, your master is still alive, and he will be preparing with your help. He will need power, and you shall provide him with the power. Only then, you may survive. Understood?”

The hissed “Yes!” was much more subdued this time. The heart had understood that it couldn’t simply take over his body, so that it would have to remain here. But he was willing to hunt and drain every single demon coming into reach, so that unmeasured volumes of blood could rush down into the heart of the castle and empower it further. The base entity was so vast and dense, it was unlikely that a single demon could topple it. Even thousands of demons should barely do anything. There already were millions of minds combined in the heart, so it was only a question of some more to give it that needed strength against the false sun, and thus making it able to provide for its master.

Rallied by this success, Alucard quickly ascended between columns and beams, further and further up. He passed by the hideout of the Brotherhood, and became one with the shadows, to go on a hunt like none before. Soon, he smelled the blood of a wounded demon and his five companions, who had barely survived a trap. He would give them that last push gladly.

The castle blood veiled him, and he in return watered it with the blood of the demons that fell to his claws and fangs. He was a monster without name, prowling through the deep corridors of the underground with supernatural speed, and slaying demons left and right. He didn’t take his time to even drain them all the way. He just threw their useless bodies into spikes of unholy blood, which ultimately left nothing behind but the dust that scattered the moment the demons were completely drained. And only more demons were coming. They wanted to impress their new master, and with the breeding hive being right in the city, there was a virtually endless supply of new warriors. They kept coming and coming, and Alucard gladly ripped everyone to pieces who got into his way.

In the pulsing castle blood, he could feel the well-protected heart, and the soul of his sire, who was recuperating still. But with every drop of demon blood, some of that strength would also be transferred to Dracul. The dragon may be in hiding, but it would only be a question of time until he was powerful enough to stand up to the false sun. The archangel may have carried the artifact and Lucifer’s power, but nothing would be able to surpass them once the castle was at full glory again.

 

***

 

The underground was in motion, more erratic than it had been in a long time. The castle blood pulsed with vigor, and more of the foundations recovered. The Brotherhood was in uproar, but they could not find the reason for why the foundations suddenly were recovering to such a degree. And the more the recovery of the castle progressed, the more signs were showing that Gabriel was about to wake, empowered and ready to face his opposition no matter what. Claire was shocked by this development, but she could do nothing to stop anything of it. She could only cower next to Gabriel and watch as her cards kept telling her the same.

_The night of the resurrected blood moon was about to come._

Early in her stay with the Brotherhood, she had been given the first glimpse of the future, and it had frightened her. But now, she understood why the blood moon had hung so deep and full in the skies. It was a sign that it would soon replace the sickly moon currently hanging in the skies, motionless and drained of any meaning for them. They would be able to walk under it again, and soak up the sunlight when the first dawn in many days would break.

“Now I understand.” Claire muttered it to no one in particular, but she hoped that Gabriel heard. “You might be called a monster, and even see yourself as one, but still, you are a guardian. You might no longer be a warrior of God, but that is of little importance. Your motives have changed, but the outcome is yet the same. You will rid the world of a power that is pure destruction, and nothing else.”

Some might have argued with her that Gabriel still was a power of pure destruction. But Claire had begun to look at it at a different angle. Destruction was necessary, if there was any creation to take place. And in the grand scheme of things, Dracul was exactly the destruction they so desperately needed.


	16. Tremors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The accursed castle rises again.

Gabriel was having quite a blast up to this point. The demons revered him like nothing before, and he had the feeling that everything was going his way. He still was cautious, but even after several days of intense search, nothing had shown up that would suggest that Alucard and Dracul were still alive. Well, they hadn’t been alive before he smote them. The demons were too glad to make sure that everything was alright. The hive was flourishing, and the humans were being drained for all they were worth. Much like the useless bastard Lucifer, who was now but a husk of his former self. He existed very much in torpor, and not outside of it.

With a small movement, Gabriel got up on his feet, surveying the city. He had taken up residence in an organic construct he had grown around the church, which allowed him to tower far above the city. It was just the perfect vantage point, and allowed him to see everything that was going on in the streets. The moon still hung frozen above the city, and it would be long until it ever would move again, if he ever felt like it. But for now, he still was basking in the knowledge that his plan of taking over power had succeeded, even with the small detour the original plan had taken.

What did disturb him in this basking, though, was a small, barely perceptible tremor. It wasn’t an earth tremor, but one that was felt in the air. With furrowed eyebrows, Gabriel focused on the streets directly beneath him. There was nothing to be seen, at least as of the moment. Still, he was perturbed. Nothing in this city moved unless he had directly given the command, so there was a reason to remain vigilant. He had already seen how persistent Dracul and his despicable little spawn could be. There was no need for this to become more than a little nuisance. He wanted this to remain under lock and seal.

With just a gesture of his hand, the streets were swarming with eager demons again, and they descended into the underground. Better safe than sorry. He had only just acquired the position he wanted, and Gabriel was not about to jeopardize this. If it meant throwing a legion of demons at his enemy to bring them down even a notch, then it was worth it. The demons had such utter disregard for their own lives, it was almost unbelievable. But they knew that they could be reborn in new, strong bodies thanks to the hive, so there was no question why they would just throw themselves at any danger that was rearing its ugly head.

Again, a slight tremor happened, but this time, it came from the ground. The wine glass he had placed upon the table before him even gave off a soft sound, which immediately caught Gabriel’s attention. That was a good sign that it hadn’t been a normal tremor at all. There was something that was in the air. Something was brewing, and he didn’t like that. He had hoped that the swift victory over the vampires would have eliminated a whole catalogue of problems. But it seemed that he had been too sure, too soon.

While he waited tensely for a report, the tremors continued. They were coming few and far between, but they still unsettled Gabriel. He even rose into the air, but that didn’t change the uneasy feeling he was getting in his gut. There was something about this development that made his danger sense tingle in a most unpleasant way. If this meant that the blasted vampires would come back and hassle him again, he would have to take serious measures to make sure that they would be wiped from the face of the earth once and for all. And that would also mean that he would have to get his hands on Vampire Killer. Which, in retrospect, he should have done right from the beginning.

There suddenly was a stronger tremor, and the wine glass toppled over, spilling into the organic floor and dripping further down. The city seemed to be more in turmoil, and even the humans, who had been indentured and broken within so few days, were becoming restless. That was not a good sign. Impatiently, Gabriel commanded more demons down into the bowels of the city. Better to swamp the infection out before it could come through any stronger.

The turmoil in the streets increased. Humans were starting to break free from their hold, and began fleeing from the demons. Their escape attempts were feeble, but it still was enough to distract plenty of demons from their task. Gabriel hissed a curse, but he didn’t feel comfortable spending power on keeping the humans back. The demons were powerful enough as it were. To divert energy towards catching the humans and forcing them back into their mental slavery was a waste of time and concentration.

A sudden cracking sound filled the air. The streets below were in motion, the city itself was beginning to move. Gabriel stared at the spectacle in disbelief and fascination. He had heard that the city around the castle had a mind of its own, but that was happening on a level which he had never anticipated. It seemed that Castlevania was returning, and the city was responding to the castle blood’s call. He regretted not having put a plan into motion to swiftly corrupt the remaining castle blood as fast as possible, but it was too late now. He would have to fight, and fight well, if he wanted to keep the upper hand in the city.

Then, the shaking began.

At first, there was a low, rumbling sound, like from an approaching storm, only magnified to a scary degree. Glass began vibrating and giving off an unnerving, high-pitched sound, while the tremors were intensifying. Then, the roaring rose in intensity as the whole city began to quake. Gabriel could feel it in the air, and he could do little more than staring at the city locked in eternal night, while it seemed to slowly rise up to meet him. Then, the houses suddenly parted, and bright, moon-lit stone began to rise from the underground.

Castlevania had resurrected in the midst of the demon-infested city. And the city itself was vibrating with joy.

“How did this happen…?” Gabriel muttered to himself, not understanding how he could have made such a grave oversight in such an important case. He should have been well aware of what the potential of Castlevania was, and he had been sure, until a few moments ago, that he was indeed aware of it. But he had woefully underestimated what could happen, if he just taunted and provoked the city and the castle deep in its foundation for a long enough time.

A strange smoke surrounded the castle, and any demon who tried getting close to it was impaled by spikes of solid, crystalized blood shooting out of this very smoke and draining them in an instant. It seemed that the true nature of Dracul had once again awakened. That it would manifest itself in such fashion had overreached any expectations Gabriel could possibly have had. This was a disaster.

“I will strike you down again, you little blight…” Gabriel focused, and began concentrating the energy in Pandora’s Box. He still hadn’t come up with a better suited name for it, but that would all come in time, he hoped. If he stamped out Dracul a second time, then it probably would just be appropriate to find a definite new name for this powerful weapon. But deep in his soul, Gabriel felt something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Fear.

There was something terrible about the potential of man, and even if Dracul was not a human being any longer, his existence still rooted in the mortal realm, giving him the potential to develop in unexpected directions. Dracul had acquired more power than was anticipated before his torpor, and after it, he had only grown to new, terrifying heights. Gabriel, for a moment, pondered if it had been the mistake of his life to try and kill Dracul without making sure that he was actually dead.

Something moved in the strange smoke around the castle, and Gabriel tried to make out what it was. There was something physically moving through the smoke, but there was something preventing him from making out the exact form. Gabriel was on high alert. Whatever was unfolding around the castle was definitely not a good sign for his near future.

A mighty roar filled the night air, and it shook not only Gabriel, but also all the demons who still were on the surface. By now, Gabriel was also sure of what had happened to the demons he had sent down into the city’s bowels. They most likely were now fueling the anger of Dracul, and the resurrection of Castlevania. A simple miscalculation was coming back to haunt him on a scale he never would have imagined to come to pass.

The smoke gradually gained a true form, and it manifested as an enormous winged dragon sitting atop the castle, eyes glowing with an eerie blood red. Another roar rang out through the city, deafening to anyone within hearing range, and Gabriel’s blood ran cold. He thought that he had faced just about anything there was to face, and had experienced the height of fear when his brother Michael fought the dragon of old. But this was something he never could have anticipated. This was a fear that stemmed from the knowledge that Dracul would not take any prisoners. The dragon would not let up until every single demon was vanquished, the hive was destroyed and assimilated, and he, Gabriel, was ripped from this existence.

The skies themselves began sounding with a shrill tone beyond what Gabriel had thought to be possible, and the moon, which previously had been given a sickly yellow-green tone, from the presence of the demon hive, suddenly turned a deep red. It was nothing which could have been explained by a lunar eclipse or by dust in the atmosphere. This was the city itself choosing to no longer abide by Gabriel’s rule. It was fighting back, in every sense of the word, and it was out to get him.

The archangel was everything but pleased. He had dominated this city for a short time, that much was true, but it still had been long enough for him to decree that he was deserving of this rule. He would not give Dracul back the reigns over this city without a fierce fight. The dragon hissed, flames showing in its shadowy smoke maw. That was a clear sign that it was beckoning him closer. And Gabriel was all too glad to follow this invitation. If Michael could slay a dragon in a long and arduous fight, so could he. There was no reason to believe why he should have any less of a chance than this overblown dove still residing in Heaven.

The demons from below in the streets were hissing and cheering him on as he approached the castle. He still was floating, without showing the illustrious wings that the artifact had given him. Even if this was as much as a show as it would be a fight, he saw little value in behaving like a peacock. Instead, he would give it his all. He would not fall victim to the same mistake his fallen brother had made. He would not end up a worthless piece of skin somewhere in the depths of Hell.


	17. Rivers of Blood Down to Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The city is at war. And only one of the two entities named Gabriel can become its permanent ruler.
> 
> (I'll admit, the end is a bit abrupt, but it just panned out this way.)

Alucard was moving through the streets like War personified. The demons were storming at him, enraged about the destruction of the central hive. The resurrection of the castle had broken apart the organic structure, and now it was in its death throes. But no matter how many came, Alucard tore through them without regard to his own wellbeing. The castle blood coursed through his veins, whispering for more. He had lost himself in the fight, and that made him dangerous to everyone around him. The wolf of Castlevania was painting the city with the blood of the demons still brave enough to face him.

High above, the dragon of the castle and the archangel were locked in a bitter fight. The skies were filled with thunderclouds, and in the few breaks, the moon shone through with its blood red light. It was very much a replicate of the scene between the ancient dragon and Michael. Gabriel tried his best to evade most of the attacks, but the shadows and the crystallized blood of Dracul were lashing out at incredible speeds. It was impossible to dodge everything. Dracul wasn’t leaving him much of a chance. He had to go on the attack, or else, he would be torn to shreds before he could even scratch the dragon.

Thunder rolled through the clouds, and then, the lightning storm began. It was a terrifying power that exploded right above the city. At every moment, several flashes of lightning illuminated the skies, the thunder growing in intensity the longer the clouds hung above. From the clouds, bursts of smoke were raining down, summoned by Dracul. More demons of the castle manifested, the castle blood keeping them in line. It only aided the speed at which the demons fell, and at which the castle blood was nourished. This also meant that Gabriel’s source of power was rapidly getting cut off.

From the safe confines of the throne room, Claire watched how the fight unfolded. She was tense, but also knew that she couldn’t depend on her divinations now. The future was not set in stone. She could only take clues from the present and see what the future would bring if those clues remained as they were. The castle was shuddering all over, and it was hard to tell if it came from the intense battle, the incredible energy behind the lightning strikes, or the beating of the castle’s erratic heart.

A noise behind her prompted Claire to whirl around where she stood. It was the leader of the Brotherhood, as often with his face hidden behind a mask. She knew that it was because of terrible burns to his face, which also made it difficult for him to move in public. She bowed to him, then watched as he started out of the window for a long time. He seemed lost in thought, then turned towards her. His eyes were visible – a grayish looking blue, which hinted at him having been awake for most of the ‘night’ again.

“This is beyond what I had imagined.” The roaring of the dragon interrupted him, and it was only quite a while later that the roaring finally subsided. “The castle is getting more aggressive, but for some reason, it still is tolerating us. I suppose it does know, in some way, that we helped its master.”

“That is not my biggest worry, if I have to be honest.” Claire shook her head, and gestured out of the window. “The city looks as if it will soon be torn apart. The presence of death out there is overwhelmingly choking, and I think that it might leave a permanent scar. The cards speak of such a possibility.

“That might be the case, but it is another worry that we should put behind us. For the moment, we can only stay here and ensure that nothing enters the castle that isn’t supposed to come here.”

Claire nodded, and set out after the leader. There was nothing for her to do here, so she better watched out that nothing reached the heart of the castle. But she soon saw that the inhabitants of the castle had been formed for that specific purpose already. There was nothing much for them to do here either. But that didn’t keep them from still fighting against the demon who had the courage to come here.

The castle quaked from an incredibly loud rolling thunder. It was followed by a roar that made the whole castle shake violently, and some cracks formed on the walls. But they soon enough were smoothed out by red smears of blood, which came directly from the wall and made sure that everything was intact. The castle would not take any chances, as it seemed. That was a relief, but there was also a sense of dread rising in Claire’s chest.

Far above in the skies, the dragon had reduced Gabriel to half of his strength. The archangel was panting incredulously, and he tried his hardest to keep up with the speed Dracul was setting, but it was pretty much hopeless to aim for that. He had tried to siphon energy from Dracul on several occasions, but it seemed that there was nothing he could do about drawing energy from the smoky form of the dragon. He simply could hit nothing that would have suggested a heart or even a center of power.

Yet he didn’t give up. He would fight to the end. Gabriel had a feeling that this could be his last day in existence, but then, at least, he would remain memorable. He wanted to leave a scar on Dracul’s un-life. He wanted to make sure that Dracul would not come to a rest for centuries to come, and beyond even that. The demons would fall in their time. He had no more use for them.

The dragon reared his head, and the glow in its maw intensified. The moon’s light grew dim, and flames spewed forth from the clouds themselves. They were not the red Gabriel would have expected. No, they were a cold icy blue, and they burned accordingly. The remains of the hive creaked, and finally crumbled. The demons shrieked in the streets, thousands of voices cursing the castle for having split the hive in two. The supply of energy from the demons now rapidly dwindled, and Gabriel soon didn’t even have the power any longer to keep himself in the air. With a groan, he let himself fall, and landed hard on the top of the castle. Where the church once had stood now towered the highest pinnacle of the castle, and on top of that, the dragon came to rest. The smoke receded into the form of the vampire, and Gabriel shot him a glare.

Dracul stepped forward, his expression entirely neutral. He grabbed the artifact from Gabriel and crushed it in his claws, which sent a sharp pain through the archangel. There it went. The last of his power. Now, he was little more than a mortal man. And he would fall again, if he was lucky. But he had the distinct feeling that his luck had run out.

“I should have taken care of you properly the first time around.”

“I feel very much the same.”

Dracul’s hand shot forward, grabbed the archangel by the throat, and with a sickening sound tore the archangel’s head from his shoulders. Blood splashed all over the castle floor, and Dracul didn’t stop. He tore at the remains of the archangel until nothing remained that would have suggested that this once was a living, breathing being. Only as he was done did he snap out of it, and relent. And with that, the last demons were sent back, and finally the city was released from the grip of the demonic influence the fallen archangel had brought.

 

***

  
  
“Will you ever talk to him about your existence? About the fact that not all is lost to the tides of time?”

Claire sat with the leader, who had taken off his mask. Even with the burns, it was visible that he shared some similarity with Victor Belmont. Claire shook her head in dismay when there was only silence. She wanted to know why the secrecy was being kept. She wanted to know why one of the last Belmonts of the bloodline had allowed for Gabriel to believe that Victor was his last remaining descendant.

“I think that it would change nothing.” Richter Belmont was a stubborn man. Though, thick-headed was probably not that far away either, as Claire grumbled to herself. “Gabriel might have learned that Victor was of his bloodline, but in the end, it mattered only insofar as Victor sacrificed his life to aid our ancestor. What would it do for Gabriel if he learned that there are more Belmont other than him and Trevor? Nothing, in my opinion.”

“You’re an incredible blockhead, Richter Belmont.” Claire was quite annoyed with his behavior. She also felt that she could call him a blockhead unchallenged, seeing that he had asked her to keep everything for herself, despite knowing fully well that Gabriel’s abilities would permit the vampire to pry this secret from her without trouble. “Why do you think it is a smart idea to keep this all secret and hush-hush?”

The door opened, and two more men came in. Claire was stunned to see that they, too, resembled Victor. They introduced themselves as Isaac and Leon, and Richter snickered quietly. They were brothers, from what Claire could gather, but she was simply too astonished to say much more. How could the Brotherhood of Light have kept this secret from Dracul himself for such a long time?

“It is an agreement we all have reached.” Juste, who stood out because of his completely white hair, sighed quietly. “It is not an easy decision, but we need to keep in mind that Gabriel is no longer a human, and thus thinks and feels differently. He still had a human core, without doubt, but this doesn’t change the fact that the centuries have changed him. He had to allow for this to happen, if he wanted to survive as this new being.”

“Besides, he still has a difficult time to look at the Brotherhood without seeing that they have deliberately misled him several times.” Leon toyed with the metal cross he wore around his neck. It looked chipped and worn, as if it had been in the family for several generations. “We have redeemed ourselves to some degree, but I don’t think that this is enough to atone for what has happened. Or eliminate all doubt on his mind. To tell him now that we are of his blood would probably result in him distrusting us more than ever.”

Claire sighed and hung her head. “I suppose it is a danger. But I still feel that it is not right to deliberately mislead him even now. But, I suppose, that it is happening for more acceptable reasons now than before.” She looked at the three brothers. “So you have all been working in the underground to ensure that Gabriel would have the upper hand, should the second fight with the archangel go so desperately wrong?”

“In a way.” Juste still was hard for Claire to decipher. He was acting quite aloof, but he still seemed to care, from what he said. The way he said it, though, was puzzling. From how Richter and Leon didn’t seem bothered by Juste’s behavior, it seemed that this was always the case. “For now, we should consider ourselves lucky that the castle seems to have accepted us. Maybe, this is a sign that Gabriel has accepted us as well. Or, at the very least, has learned to tolerate us.”

Leon chuckled quietly. “Tolerating would probably be a safer guess. Gabriel is not known to forgive and forget in a heartbeat. But in time, he may find it easier to forge a new bond than holding a grudge. We will have to trust in him.”

Claire nodded quietly. It was odd to say that about the most powerful vampire in the world, but they indeed would have to wait and see what would happen after this.


End file.
